Fire in the Snow
by Galacticlone
Summary: Purple is destined for great things, chosen by force by his Tallest to be married to an opposing Empire and seal the alliance between their peoples. When he crash lands on the frigid surface of Callnowia, he is thrown into the middle of a wild, crimson-eyed anarchist's war to overthrow the Irken government and unearth a horrific plot buried beneath the ice. (Slow burn/RAPR)
1. Deadweight

Hello and thank you for picking up this RAPR fic! My name is Charlie, I'm the author here, and you'll see my little notes at the beginning and end of every chapter! I am so appreciative of you all for following my work, if you came here from my other fic "My Kind," and if you're completely new to my work, welcome to the lovely family darlings! I promise I don't bite!

A few notes; This fic is rated M overall. I always post the chapter ratings at the beginning of every chapter with potential warnings for the content. This fic will include brief heavy language, graphic depictions of blood/violence/gore, implied/mentioned physical abuse, perilous situations, and explicit sexual content. I wanted to warn you just in case!

Also; I really do appreciate reviews, even if they are anonymous, because that lets me know what you guys like and what you don't, and what you would like to see in further chapters! I do take recommendations and suggestions into account when writing, so be sure to leave one if you have one! Thank you angels!

**Chapter rated M for graphic depictions of violence/blood, brief heavy language, perilous situations, mentions of abuse in the past tense, suggestive themes, and general adult themes.**

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"Cross your legs. Wait, let me see how they look uncrossed. Yes, like that…mm…I don't know. I think you'll have more success with them crossed respectfully while you hold your hands in your lap. What do you think?"

Purple did as he was told, delicately crossing his legs and looking away out of embarrassment to stare out the window of his Irken transport Shuuver, watching as the bright, blinding snow of the countryside below glinted in the pale glow of the distant Callnowian sun. He swallowed his pride and tried not to let his humiliation shine through his carefully chosen, approved expression, refusing to make eye contact as his personal advisor scribbled furious notes in the plush, worn leather of the seat across from him.

His advisor's frown deepened and he reached forward with a gloved hand, snapping fervently for Purple's lilting attention as he lost himself to the endless expanses of dastardly ice rolling by in swathes below their thrusters. "Pay attention when I'm talking to you, cadet. I asked you what you thought about the way you looked." He sneered, peering through his prescription goggles as his wrinkled jowls continued their decline.

Purple shrugged flippantly, moving up with a free hand to tug at the horrendously stiff Elite collar ringing his neck as he caught sight of a massive Irken platoon below, shivering as they marched in time with a bright green battle flag through the frost. He eyed the metal of razed battle mechs trudging along behind them, admiring the pits and horrendous dents dotting their exoskeletons from heavy plasma fire. He licked his lips when his mouth practically watered to jump free from his proverbial prison and sling himself down to finally do what Irkens did best; destroy. He had been pulled out of his regiment before he could deploy nearly two cycles ago to be domesticated against his will, gussied up and cultivated as an expendable curio for a woman he had no interest in, and forced to move about with false grace and poise that nauseated him beyond belief. He had gone through the Academy and back-breaking military training for fervent cycles, learning the ins and outs of how to expertly fire a searing hot plasma rifle booming under his fingers and pilot the many legs of an Vortian made Spider Tank, coming out as the second in his class for marksmanship and receiving commendations from his commanding officer. He was a machine, a blistering, gorgeous example of shining Irken strength and fortitude, but…he was also prized for other things. Other things he wished with every fiber of his young, rebellious soul that he could strip away from his form and forget for the rest of his hopefully long life.

Beauty. He was cloned from the finest strand of DNA and hatched in the most prestigious Smeetery in all of Irk to grow into something highly coveted….unfortunately.

"I'm not a cadet." He mumbled in response, throwing his chin in the crook of his palm as he longed for the toils of the violent, bloodthirsty battle raging below that he would never be given the privilege to see. "And who cares what my legs look like? Isn't that superficial, or something?"

The advisor gave an over animated gasp of disappointed shock, reaching out and bopping Purple lightly on the side of the face with an open handed smack, a glint of sadistic satisfaction flashing in his deep amber gaze when his target yelped in sudden surprise. "Superficial? How dare you take our venture so lightly!" The short little thing snorted haughtily, shaking his head in dissatisfaction when Purple rubbed at the slowly deepening mark stamped over his cheek. "You were chosen for a reason, and every detail must be perfect if our Empire is to properly form this treaty with the Callnowian government. If you fail, we may not have another chance to end this war." He flipped through his electronic reader, mumbling indistinctly to himself as he reminded his meticulously developed plaything of his singular purpose. "The Prime Minister of Callnowia has requested the following in exchange for peace, should you forget," he cleared his throat, "A height of six feet, no more no less, violet eyes, soft unscarred skin, less than 220 cycles of age, with enough manners and political awareness to marry her daughter. Need I say more?"

Purple rolled his eyes as the familiar despondency he'd come to know over the past months crept back up into his chest, constricting his already suffocating spooch as they lazed closer on towards his unfortunate fate. The Callnowian Prime Minister had been ruthlessly attacking Irken outposts around their star system for far too long, raiding food supplies and depleting munitions to undermine planned invasions set to overtake the western half of the galaxy and halting Irken expansion by nearly 75% in the last cycle alone. She claimed to have her reasons, stating that the rate of Irken imperialism through the cosmos was worrying and troublesome to her people and the sanctity of her own planet's precious independence, holding many fervent peace talks with Tallest Del in attempts to convince him to stop his blinding sweep to no avail when he refused. Violent war had broken out between the two technologically advanced planets and a draft was instilled, Purple being pulled from his previous job as a microbiologist working on cleaner chemical and biological warfare to train with millions to ascend and participate in thunder runs across their enemy's homeworld; razing, obliterating bombing streaks that pounded whole forests and cities to ash as they burned under the heat of canon fire. He had practiced, firing on simulated front lines of screeching Callnowian bodies as their many, deep black eyes stared back with thrashing claws as he laid waste to their forms and ate away at every bit of holographic flesh he could find. He had been incredibly nervous for the real thing, sure, but he was also determined to prove to himself and his platoon that he was able to hold his own as a daunting hero to the Irken Empire.

Then came the talks of the Irken-Callnowian Flesh Treaty.

Purple heard rumors of the docket in the beginning back when he was finally graduating from the Academy again with his second degree in technical military operations, reading furiously over what little information the public had been given. At first, Tallest Del had held a statewide conference on Conventia with Prime Minister Ipi, the two shaking hands and agreeing to a cease fire under one condition; political marriage. Ipi had demanded a foothold on Irk to stake her claim in the impressive economic land rush Del had been staking through their intergalactic quadrant and had agreed to spare billions of souls in the Irken public of violent cannon fire against the planetary surface if her daughter, Sen, was married to an Irken man with the ability to ascend to the rank of Tallest, giving her own empire a firm hold over half of all operations happening in the nebula. Del had been reluctant but had no choice, knowing he was becoming far too old to properly care for a woman so young, and took Ipi's list of demands to rip open the greatest hunt in the history of the planet. Ipi was specific, barking orders and relaying rapidly changing opinions as her daughter looked through catalogue after catalogue of lavender eyed men stripped away from the front lines to be humiliated in photo shoots. Purple could remember his own, screaming back at his commanding officer when his long anticipated deployment was cut short and he was carted off to Judgementia to stand before the Control Brains for a PAK evaluation, passing the first round of mental processing with flying colors before being shoved ruthlessly in a side room to strip and have his body checked by the uncomfortable hands of medical drones poking at every inch of sensitive flesh they could find and running cold fingers over places that should never have been touched without consent for systematic scrutiny. Unlike many other males splayed like dolls on the buffet table for Sen to choose from, Purple hadn't seen combat yet and still had perfect, milky skin, something she found incredibly desirable when her five eyes finally landed on his photo in the back of her gargantuan, million man catalogue. He was barely six feet in height, towering over his subordinates and commanders alike as he was exposed to mortifying checks of his already embarrassing, still-intact virginity, having to answer invasively personal questions about his past partners before he was forced down into a scanner to evaluate how the sweltering glow of his pristine, feminine eye color would hold up as he aged.

Perfect.

He was deemed perfect.

And so, Purple had rose through the ranks overnight on his supple physical appearance alone, meeting with Tallest Del in his personal tower on the planet for an impromptu dinner he hadn't been all too thrilled to attend. He was honored beyond belief and floored when Del had slid his contract over the gorgeous imported wood of the table, asking him with a sweet, gentle smile to sign away the very essence of his youthful life to a woman he had never met to take over the powerful, omnipotent office of Tallest when Del finally passed away from old age. He was to be married off to Sen to ensure the peace and brotherhood of their two aristocracies, trading the simple life of the Elite for political conferences and disgusting, absolutely sickening lessons on how to properly walk, how to apply ceremonial rouge to his round cheeks, and how to address his future wife to gain the utmost respect from her family to finally bring the gruesome, sadistic warfare to an exhaustive end.

That had been two cycles ago.

In the meantime, his skin had been protected from the harsh sunlight with long fluttering robes to preserve his insipid paleness, his hands were manicured and slathered with opulent imported creams to keep them soft, and his teeth were sharpened monthly to maintain his pearlescent smile. He hated it. He'd become something of a disgusting puppet to the gentry, courageously speaking out a few times and finding himself callously starved of luscious food and much needed sugar to sustain his rapid metabolism until he would come crawling back to apologize for his supposed wrongdoings. He'd learned to hold his sharp, overbearing tongue, letting his words slip here and there on accident but overall becoming the picture of glittering, absolutely desirable perfection his Tallest wanted him to be. When the day had come for his official transport, he'd been more than nervous, wringing his hands and tapping his manicured claws over one another as his team of advisors prepared him to be shipped off for his first encounter with his new, unknown wife on her war-torn home planet shrouded in the icy grip of perpetual winter, dressing him in the plain, inconspicuous outfit of an Elite cadet to keep any Callnowian rebel factions still warring with Irk from taking notice of his status.

That was the catch…no one knew who was to marry Sen until it happened. He was to be shrouded in secrecy to preserve his own safety from assassination wrought by those who despised the Flesh Treaty on both the Irken and Callnowian sides of the board. Purple was instructed to never speak of his unwilling engagement, of his ascension as next in line to become Tallest, or his political clout until he was safely in his command chair with his wife aboard the Massive for all to finally recognize as their leader.

He swallowed down his need to fight followed by a wave of faint, anxiety induced nausea at what was to come, knowing he wasn't ever to be allowed true, unabridged freedom as long as he walked the galaxy and took planets as his own. He'd given in to his treacherous fate long ago, relinquishing his free will in exchange for the promise of control and luxurious living over the public he had convinced himself he craved.

Did he?

Did it even matter anymore?

Probably not.

Purple glanced up from his palm to where his advisor sat rigid in his seat, grumbling away at his earlier insolence before running his free hand inconspicuously along the outer seam of his thick, canvas uniform and shuddering at the immediate escalation of his pulse. He was supposed to wear this once, supposed to be normal. Normal…what a strong and weak word at the same time. Normal meant something different to them all. To the troops trudging along through chilly embankments below and chanting resonances to keep in time with the march of heavy combat boots, shooting and bloodshed was normal. They would fight, some would die for their homeworld, and others would return to husbands and wives to live out their eventual retirement in domestic bliss. To Purple, secrecy was normal. Talks about his body language, his well hidden and coveted virginity, and about which fork to use at a stuck up, formal political dinner were normal. No one knew him anymore, and he had no friends, only a team of ruthless examiners who's faces he had come to cherish purely because they were the only ones he was allowed to see.

Why couldn't he have been born to a bottom of the barrel Smeetery?

Why did his voice have to be so delicate?

Why were his limbs svelte and wraithlike?

Was any of this really fair? No…what _was_ fairness? What did that mean? He was serving his esteemed race to the highest of his capacity, of which he was immensely proud and honored, but also deeply, depressingly alone. He told himself on a repeated loop that once he married Sen under the light of the Callnowian sun, that hollow, empty feeling would go away and finally be filled with the dazzling echo of self-worth and purpose. He would hit his stride in time and learn to be happy with what the universe had selected as his divine purpose, even if he longed for what could have been.

What could have been wasn't what _should_ be. What should be was no longer what _could_ be.

"Consort," The advisor began with a thick, gruff grumble, waiting for Purple's blank expression to draw back to his own, "we will be arriving at the capitol in four hours at our current speed. Go to the cleansing room in the back of the ship and reapply your night cream under your eyes, we need to make sure you look like you've slept for cycles. I want you to sleep for exactly two hours before you get up and wash your face, then we shall dress you in your formal attire when we are out of this rebel landing zone."

Purple blinked in misunderstanding, returning his curious gaze to the landscape and shrinking back a bit when he realized he had overlooked the incredible torment ensuing beneath him. Plasma canons overheated and boomed through Callnowian guards with pistols and raking their way on long, lean legs through the first wave of Elite operatives attempting to retake an Irken stronghold trapped deep beneath the snow as officers yelled in accented native tongues and flipped up rifle scopes to cleanly drop soft forms to nothing more than gooey messes of oozing lifeforce and leaking organs. Purple felt oddly unsettled watching the snow turn a mixture of deep black and bright pink with a concoction of sticky, viscous blood, glancing back to the scowling face urging him on as he dug under the seat for his ridiculously full nightbag and pushed himself up with a sigh, trudging off towards the back of the ship as the pilot kept them level enough for him to work.

How many soldiers were dying while he was living in awe-inspiring extravagance?

He shook the thought from his mind and carefully pulled open the tiny hatch to the even smaller cleansing room in the back, squinting when the florescent light of the mirror fazed on to greet him before slinging his cosmetics carelessly down with a sneer and pulling his glittery bag open. Repulsive, all of them. He set them up one by one, drawing his long antennae back and unbuttoning the scratchy collar of his Elite uniform to gain better access to his long, lithe neck as he dipped his fingers in exotic oils and slathered them liberally down his jugular, massaging his skin with the scent of faint feminine florals and moisture. He moved on to his lightly freckled face, struggling to unscrew a tiny pot of thousand dollar Plookesian night cream before dabbing it lightly against the slowly appearing, faint circles under his eyes.

"Dab it don't smear you might get wrinkles." Purple hissed sarcastically to himself, repeating the horrendous words of thousands of estheticians back on Irk showing him the proper way to smooth over his features.

Everything had a procedure, a ritual, a long list of ludicrous steps that just had to be followed or else a single sunspot could appear on his cheek or, Irk forbid, his antennae would lose the faint curl that had been worked into the tip.

Purple replaced the lid on the glass container and chucked it back into his case, moving to grip at the edge of the sink with clinking, nervously skittering claws, not wanting to look up out of fear of the man he would see staring back at him in the telltale, reflective silver of the mirror he knew would never lie. He took a deep, shaky breath before braving a tiny peek and shuddering in repelled silence and immediately peeling his hollow gaze away to clean up the rest of his mess. He couldn't look anymore. It wasn't that he wasn't pleasant to look upon, he was far more beautiful than anyone could have imagined him to be. He had become the peak of Irken flawlessness, but it wasn't him. His once inquisitive hands digging into disgusting biological matter and dripping it to his heavy work boots had been washed of their duty and replaced with a new objective that involved his exquisitely gloss shimmered, velveteen lips sipping overly-saccharine teas and laughing at absurd war stories before a gargantuan plasma fireplace with a bunch of snobbish aristocrats who couldn't give a damn about one another.

He picked up his cleaning with mounting fervor and trembling hands, nearly dropping a lavish vial of honied cologne Sen had requested he wear upon their first encounter before shoving it away with a hot growl he quickly swallowed down like a thick pill. No. He was to be Tallest and he could make his own decisions after Del was gone, calming himself and his frayed psyche to the idea of becoming everything he had ever dreamed and more. It was just a little stage play, a bit of acting, and some powdery makeup. After that, he would be a powerhouse of vicious armed ingenuity with millions of hot, sizzling plasma canons at his heartless disposal. He could sink his sharp, manicured claws into all those who had taken him from his purpose as a soldier and show them who the true boss was, a tiny smile peaking on his now-moisturized face at the image of the elderly advisors prancing him around like a living toy before their long dead Tallest's scrutinizing ruby eyes falling at the snap of his authoritarian fingers.

Those would be the days…he would bring a new world order to Irk.

Purple shot up in sudden alarm, rocketing backwards with a yelp when the ship sounded a blaring siren and dipped sharply to the left when it collided with something weighty and metallic, the sound of terrifying metal and thick glass shattering horrendously against their windshield and overtaking the peace. He scrambled against the smooth walls with aimless claws and flailing hands, throwing out his PAK legs for purchase when the ship veered and tumbled once more and threatened to vault him out into the corridor, latching against the thin floorboards as his pulse skyrocketed and his trained senses went on the defensive. He struggled to keep his rapidly fleeting bearings when the pilot barked something he couldn't hear over the roar and violent hiss of angry thrusters outside, their heat shield coming off in serrated pieces as they labored to stay in the atmosphere and took pounding, body-razing canon fire from an unknown source.

"Purple, get to the pod! There's an Irken bunker two miles beneath the surface further into the forest!" The pilot screamed from where he had fallen to his side against the dash under the sheer force of bone-shattering gravity. "You can't stay here! We're under attack from a rebel Callnowian faction! They're blowing all Irken forces out of the sky and-"

Purple cried out when another shot flashed across the windshield, obliterating the tiny pilot in a sizzling, charred heap of mangled flesh and grisly oozing blood splattered along the back of his command seat and staining the floor in puddles. He raced forward, clamping a hand over his mouth when his spooch lurched at the terrible, mind-bending realizations of what his coveted warfare actually looked like, the smell of metallic, liquid life dripping from the flashing central console as he dove for his elderly advisor from where he had pressed himself against the outside body of the ship in disturbed terror.

"Lire! We have to leave!" He cried over the whistle and tug of atmosphere rushing through the now exposed front of the destroyed, absolutely crushed hull of the ship, glancing back in terror when strobing warning lights and bleating alarms invaded his overstimulated antennae and set forward a ferocious ring in his already confounded hearing. He frantically grabbed for Lire's arm, shredding through the expensive silk of his jacket before gasping and immediately flattening himself to the floor panels when a Callnowian Charger zipped by through the ice cold, stinging wind and opened fire, riddling the outside compartment and blowing the fuel cannister as Lire's unsuspecting body was pumped full of thick, Callnowian steel. Purple clamped his trembling hands over his antennae and rolled gracelessly to the side when the ship began to dangerously loose altitude, spiraling into a death-defying nosedive before attempting to manually correct itself as the cooling unit combusted and took out what was left of the side escape pod, flinging the now mangled heap that had been Lire's confused, stunned body out into a limp freefall.

The stench of reeking coolant and singed flesh nearly made Purple gag on his own terrified lack of judgement, struggling to overcome wave after wave of agonizing fear scraping at his body and gnawing on his bones as he tried feverishly to shake himself free from his agony induced fugue.

He was alone.

He was alone and he was going to die.

Purple panicked, flying to his feet and feeling his mechanical extensions scrape dangerously against the grating holding him precariously upright as he let his gaze vault wildly about the cabin, searching for something, anything he could use to dampen his landing. He was going to have to jump; there would be no way the ship could correct its horrifying, rapidly encroaching crash course as he stumbled gawkily to the now open, blood soaked side panel that had been torn free, trying not to hyperventilate when his once perfect face was slammed with the crushing force of blinding, snow slicked air immediately chapping him beyond belief. He glanced up and froze as he went into shock, digging his fingers so far into the sharp edge of the metal that they bled as he locked eyes with the ruthless, bloodthirsty pilot opening devastating fire upon his transport vessel racing forward in a jet black, menacing ship heralding his doom like an unfeeling reaper come to take his soul prematurely from the universe he had yet to see fully. He squeezed his eyes shut and braced himself for his unforeseen demise, holding his uneven breath as his terrified violet eyes filled with blistering hot tears and a sob choked in the back of his throat.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three.

By the fourth, no end came.

Purple let his eyes fly back open when he heard the formidable, distinguishable shriek of authoritative Irken blasters heating the air to steam and laying waste to the awful nightmare that threatened his life. He took a slow, featherlight inhale, adrenaline spiking in his body and forcing the world to slow to almost to a dizzying halt when he caught sight of the pilot behind the Spittle Runner erupting in thick clouds of smoke and flames. He was still going despite the dastardly leak of fuel spilling from the belly of his annihilated, near dead ship, his youthful face contorted into a fervent, violent war cry from behind his pilot's visor as his deep crimson eyes burned holes into his enemy's skull as his powerful blasters raked through sweet, tanned Callnowian flesh and neutralized the death sentence Purple was almost sure he was going to face. He couldn't move, stamped in place when his pulse skipped a beat and the officer slumped back in his seat to frantically try and untangle his safety harness and eject, Purple finally crashing back into his deafening, violent reality when the courageous, violent pilot ejected and faltered in the air, crying out in panic as his parachute refused to deploy and he went down over the deep blue of the foreign forest swallowing them whole and quickly vanished from sight.

Purple shook the grisly image from his mind and yelped, bracing himself as the thick canopy brushed the underbelly of his own vessel and threatened to take him with leafy fingers and razor sharp branches, throwing himself without thinking from the open side of the blood soaked chamber that had been his prison and into the fading light blotting out between steely trunks and the scarred landscape below. He tried to soften his landing, deftly maneuvering to the side as he counted his actions as he had done in training; one, two, three. He landed hard, the snowbank unforgiving as sheets of brutal ice cracked and shattered beneath his beeping PAK and sliced through the thin material of his dress uniform to open up thin gashes over his shoulder and cheek. His ship continued on for several yards before the forest claimed what was left of it's sputtering, oil-slicked life, the sound of wood and vines splintering under its horrendous weight resounding and scattering a flock of four-winged, flying creatures to the deep cerulean of the snow laden sky.

Then…silence.

There was no sound beyond the wind, no hum of canon fire scalding him from above, but only the thump of his rapid, overworked heartbeat ponding through his quivering antennae. Purple could hardly move, watching from below as the trees spun in his dizzied, unstable vison and his body reeled from the lingering stench of smoke and bodily fluids clinging to the canvas of his soot-charred jacket. He tried to sling himself up, making it over to his side before collapsing again and earning a face full of freezing, alien snow as he feebly groaned at the near numb, gradually radiating pain shooting up from his wrist. He attempted again, snaking his long PAK legs back into the internal compartment of his unit and grabbing for a slick rock with his good hand before wincing and crying out when a sharp, blinding pain rippled up through his arm and alerted his internal sedatives to kick in. He tried to flex his fingers, cursing under his breath and through his agonized tears when he realized he'd lost all feeling in his hand from a clean break to his wrist, cradling his stiff, throbbing appendage to his chest when he finally managed to erratically push himself up to his knees. He felt his form try to go into shock as his legs shook, laboring to steady himself up on his as tiny pieces of shrapnel and flaming debris cascaded leisurely down around him.

He couldn't stay here.

Purple whined to himself, trying to remain calm through his terror and take stock of what he had and where he was. He pushed forward, not really sure what direction he was traveling but assuming it was north based on the thick layer of bright florescent, winter moss growing upon the trunks of the trees. He had no weaponry, no flack jacket, and nothing to keep himself warm until rescue crews realized he had gone down somewhere on the distant outskirts of the Callnowian capitol city. They would eventually come to find him, but how long would that take? He stepped gawkily over downed twigs and tiny kindles flittering down, scooping up a flaming twig to carry along as he noted the deep slices over his arm, oozing vivid pink blood as it dripped lazily from his fingers to the white blanket below. He gritted his teeth and felt his world collapsing, knowing his wounds would soon be healed by his PAK through advanced medical treatment, but also knowing they would leave thin, imperfect scars in their wake. Callnowia was a vain society constantly searching for flawless perfection and beauty beyond what they already had, setting a deep, profound unease through the pit of Purple's stomach as he thought about what his future arranged marriage might hold when Sen saw his now war kissed skin. Would she even want him at this point? What if she tossed him out like trash and Del chose someone else to take his seat as Tallest?

What if he had gone through all his rigorous, shameful training for nothing?

Purple vaulted behind a gnarled trunk and froze when he heard a bad-tempered voice call out from afar, craning his trembling, frostbitten antennae forward to try and make out what it was saying in a desperate attempt to gain more information about where he might have landed. A few more responded, chattering leisurely in complex Callnowian he couldn't recognize as they raked through the forest and gutted what was left of his ship. Purple swallowed thickly and narrowed his eyes, slowly but surely moving back to glance at the strange scene unfolding beyond his precarious, improvised hideout. A troop of five officers had stopped at his distant ship, kicking at the pitted metal of the frame with nods of approval and little audible snickers placed here and there through the mottled radiance. They reached into the cockpit, digging through what was left of its incredibly meager contents as their four long arms tossed candy wrappers and his bag of makeup supplies out into the cold. One of the troops piped up when they noticed the glitter, stooping with a wide, toothy grin and blinking his five jet black eyes in bubbling excitement as he scooped it back up and sniffed it, waving it wildly for his commanding officer to see. Purple curled his lip in disgust when they spilled the contents, happy to be rid of them but utterly perplexed as to what they would ever need with expensive hand creams or deep emerald eyeshadows.

He braced himself, following his footprints back the way he came and flinching at the terrifying crunch of snow under his boots, finally slipping far enough from the crash sight to take a deep, much needed inhale and focus on the feeling of liquid sedatives pounding through his blood stream to try and mend his shattered bone. He had opted to drop his improvised torch, afraid it would attract too much unwanted attention as he shivered on and scooped up anything he found that could be useful. A screwdriver from an open toolbox. A single clip of ammunition from a long lost plasma pistol. A half eaten, vanilla snack cake thrown out when the horrific war had broken out further inland. He continued on for what felt like hours, trying to walk exclusively on the cobbly stones poking up through the thick, pillowy embankment to hide his tracks, slipping a few times and landing hard on his side to cry out in agony when he clipped his wrist on the unforgiving permafrost beneath him. If he could just find a clearing, an opening in the dense awning gaping for hundreds of yards above him and piercing the sky like exacting knives, he could light a signal fire with some of the rubber he had scooped up along the way. It would be a perilous, dangerous stretch, but Purple would have to risk being spotted by the enemy if he was ever going to be found by his own people out here in the middle of nowhere…or freeze to death.

He slung the remnants of a broken titanium rod he'd managed to tug free from a branch above his head over his good shoulder, beginning to feel the effects of the harrowing frost-induced numbness hit his aching toes as the steel of his boots turned arctic with every weakening step he shuddered through, talking to himself on a hushed loop to try and keep his face warm enough to relatively speak should he be found.

Should he be found.

Was…this it?

Purple coughed, watching as his balmy breath curled and fluttered like a phantom against the sweet-smelling frost, shivering violently as he stuffed tools into his pockets and curled into himself, attempting to roll his long sleeves down further over his hands but failing when he accidentally tore away some of the razed, threadbare fabric. His uniform was only meant to be a disguise to keep others from attempting to steal him for ransom and his idiotic advisory team had chosen to shove him in the thin basics, throwing a heavy respirator over his chest and hooking it to his PAK before calling everything good. He was meant to go straight from his flight on the Massive to his transport ship in order to meet Sen and Ipi in the capitol of Bornau and, by that time, he would have changed out of his faulty uniform into his dress suit for his long courting session inside the safety of his betrothed's home. He had no protective gloves, no communicator, no gauntlets. He didn't even have the long, shielding fleece that was supposed to shroud him against the rapidly dropping temperature, leaving his delicate, carefully protected skin exposed to the elements he hadn't had to endure for over two cycles. He'd become soft, pathetically delicate, and had lost most of his muscle tone from the lack of training he was allowed to continue on with, having to sneak impromptu hand to hand combat sessions with his bedroom wall before he was caught by his personal advisor, Lire, before his now…oh Irk.

Lire was dead.

Purple stopped dead in his tracks, unsure of how to feel when a tiny bubble of happiness popped deep within his psyche as a smile peaked and cracked over his frozen lips. The one man who had taken him from his old life to his new life of opulence under order of Tallest Del was finally dead. There was no more hand cream, no more glitter, no more eye shadow. Huh.

Purple snickered to himself and glanced up at what little of the sky he could see as a laugh escaped, echoing through the silence before dying when he noticed something strange, squinting up from below when he caught sight of something hanging aimlessly in the breeze. He blinked and shook the sting from his cheeks as he let his rubber slip to the ground and took a few cautious steps forward, reaching up with tentative hands to brush at the limp, half destroyed combat boots of the crimson eyed pilot who had taken out his attacker. Purple held back a gag when he realized the officer was most likely deceased, clamping a hand over his mouth before shakily pulling it away and stepping back to observe the full extent of his body. He'd taken a pretty nasty fall, scraping through branches and sliced beyond belief, his imperfect, scar covered skin undoubtedly used to the torture. His lavender gaze flitted up to the rank sewn haphazardly over the mystery man's shoulder plate, feeling his spooch drop at the horrendous realization as to who he was looking at.

He was a general. A four-star general.

Purple panicked, racing back forward in a frantic daze and stretching up on his toes to try and grab for the limp general's feet from where his razed parachute had tangled its way through the branches, finally latching the claws of his good hand into his sole to halfway yank him down. He yelped when the officer ragdolled over him, falling back to the ground when their bodies collided and his stale blood smeared up over his cheek to stain disgustingly at his blue skin. He was still warm, Purple gasping and flicking his antennae forward when he rolled him off to the side, listening desperately for any sign of life pounding through his body and stifling a victory shout when he heard the faint, frigid pulse of a debilitated heartbeat singing back at him through the cold.

He was alive! Broken and bruised beyond belief, but alive. Purple wasn't going to die alone! He wasn't going to die alone and maybe, just maybe, the General could hail someone back on Irk or the Callnowian capitol to free them from their neverending, frosty doom that was fast becoming a reality quicker than Purple had expected. The officer was warm, but unresponsive, his fingertips blackened against the knife-like wind and his viscous blood lolling down his chin from a deep plasma shot he had sustained to his side. Purple swallowed and thought back to his brief time in the field of science, unable to think of anything other than the bizarre feeling of wet life staining his hands as he pressed into the horrendously oozing wound to stop the bleeding.

Purple smoothed up over his antennae, smearing now cool, gelatinous blood across his face when he noticed them twitch without direction, desperate to find a name or a regiment as he dug through pockets and threw aside pointless items; snack wrappers, coins, a points card for a bar back on Irk. He cursed under his breath when the bizarre man who had saved his life mumbled something in hoarse, disjointed Irken, slurring out incoherent nonsense as Purple came up short and resorted to patting him lightly on the side of the face.

"H-Hey," he hissed through the slowly encroaching dusk, terrified that someone would hear and glancing over his shoulder when his nerves got the best of him, "hey. General…um…whatever your name is. Can you hear me?" He tried again, taking the unconscious officer by the jaw and admiring the long, thick scars long since healed over his neck from an old battle wound. "General? I watched you eject from your ship and your parachute didn't deploy."

Still silence.

Purple blinked, a characteristic hopelessness washing over him when he felt like he was conversing with nothing, instead moving to grab for the officer's plasma pistol secured haphazardly in his belt from his nasty descent, pulling it free and thrusting it into his own just in case. He knew they weren't alone out here; Callnowian and Irken rebels had been fighting amongst each other in the plains just to the south, meaning that there was a strong chance that the Callnowian forces were probably shrouding battle mechs and tanks within the cover of the forest. Not to mention the natural, phantomlike monsters skittering about without a care through the downed foliage, staring at them both with dubious intent as Purple picked up his search on the officer's body, tugging open every velco pocket and carefully snaking his hands down to the pouches slung around his waist, tugging loose the clasps and sighing in exasperation when he only found more sugar laden foods and candybars. At least they would be well stocked until their rescue crew arrived. The General remained disturbingly limp, drawing a grumbling, overly annoyed grumble from Purple's chapped lips as he forced himself up to a stand and grabbed him by the arm, maintaining his bearings when he remembered what his unfortunate pilot had told him before he was gracelessly murdered in cold blood by enemy fire. There was an underground Irken outpost somewhere around here that had been abandoned after the Flesh Treaty was initially enacted, buried deep in the dense undergrowth and mercilessly sharp tangle of trees. He propped himself up on his knees, attempting to shake the General awake with his good hand and biting his lip to the awful pain shooting up his other, trying not to let a mess of angry, frustrated tears cascade down his freckled cheeks and dehydrate him beyond what he already felt. He wanted to shout in agonizing despondency when the General didn't give so much as a twitch this time, antennae hanging limp in the snow as his precious body heat leaked away in waves from the plasma shot blistering disgustingly over his side. Great…now he was stuck with deadweight he definitely didn't need. But, at least he wasn't alone. He couldn't just leave the downed officer behind, knowing the nighttime creatures of the forest would take the easy opportunity to feast upon his flesh and rip him to shreds if he didn't tag along and…the General had saved his life, whether intentionally or not. According to the Irken code of war, a life saved is a favor earned, and Purple was indebted to the strangely intriguing officer until he deemed his payment fitting enough for them to part and finally go separate ways. He was stuck with the sugar-reaking officer, sneering in discomfort and chewing on his tongue as he thought. He moved back down, carefully brushing over his cheek with his chilly fingertips before prodding lightly at his eyelids, gingerly peeling one back and feeling his pulse race at the swelteringly powerful color glaring almost lifelessly back at him.

His eyes.

Red...no..._crimson_. Gorgeous, bottomless crimson.

Purple felt himself shudder in a mixture of frostbitten hunger and overwhelmed discomfort at the blistering hue he hadn't quite been expecting, holding his unseeing, glassy eye open as he stared him down with an unwarranted, almost scientific fascination. He'd never met someone with eyes so vivid, formless yet so stoic and practically glowing in the low light despite the dull sheen of bloodless eating away at their fringes. They were breathtakingly captivating, mesmerizing even, Purple feeling his feeble breath catch and ripping his hand away when he realized he had been lingering too long on something so unbelievably unimportant. It didn't matter in the moment; there would be time for observation, but now is was the time to keep moving to stay one clever step ahead of the perilous claws of danger.

Purple rolled his eyes at his own childishness and shivered violently through the snow, giving a tentative tug to the officer's flaccid arm with his good wrist before heaving him on, dragging them both deeper and deeper into the unknown together as his new comrade's blood splattered in tiny rivulets behind them.

"You...y-you better be happy I found you." Purple huffed, catching sight of a glinting hatch peeking precariously up through the snow and rebounding in the sunlight to blind him in the retinas just past a massive, steep hill dotted with rocks and icy undergrowth. If they could make it there, he could drag the General down the ladder and lock it from the inside, sealing them away from the horrors of the war closing in around them and buy Purple enough time to come up with a feasible plan. "You should also be happy I have some semblance of a conscious. I-I could have just left you here to rot."

He continued to strain against the pilot's weight, huffing and wheezing as his sore back threatened to give and his once powerful strength slowly returned from cycles of underuse. "Ugh, really? Can't you just wake up and walk yourself over there?" He grumbled to himself, halfheartedly hoping the General would pop up and tag along, but knowing he was wrong.

Nothing.

Go figure.

Purple groaned, long and low and wrapped his fingers snugly over the officer's wrist, digging his claws into his flesh and flinching when he felt the slow, but thankfully still steady pound of his pulse under his skin. He glanced up, feeling his anxiety skyrocket when he noticed that nightfall was quickly shrouding the forrested valley in her cruel embrace, jolting when he heard the terrifying chirp of Callnowian voices trailing a little under a mile behind them.

No. No, no, no!

He took off, tugging his heavy friend through the snow as he felt every muscle in his body burn under the sheer force and strain of the unknown Irken's form threatening ruthlessly in his comatose state to drag him down. He eyed the hatch in the distance, swallowing thickly as he panted and tried to maintain his composure, the sound of hunting animals scurrying through the horrendous darkness around them as he shivered and held back another thick sob.

He wasn't going to die.

They weren't going to die.

He wasn't going to let them.

* * *

Chapter 1 done! Hope you guys have a good night and the next update will be January 5, 2020 at 10:00 pm CDT (UTC-5)!


	2. A Beginning to an End

Welcome back lovelies to Fire in the Snow! I'm really happy you've enjoyed the first chapter! I actually went back in and fleshed it out a bit more, because I didn't like the lack of detail I gave (I rushed it in the beginning to make the update) but all is fixed! No plot points have changed though, just more detail.

Ok, we're going a bit deeper with this chapter, and I hope you guys enjoy seeing a little blast from our favorite Tallest's past before we officially make it to the stronghold! Hope you enjoy lovelies!

A note; a cycle in this fic is equivalent to an earth year. And, because Irkens cannot handle the pollutants in water, I have them bathe and use bromine, a harsh acidic chemical, to clean with because it doesn't harm their skin.

**Chapter rated M for obvious allusions to abuse/neglect/deprivation, graphic depictions of blood/gore, brief heavy language, suggestive themes, and general adult content.**

* * *

**One cycle in the recent past**

Purple pulled back with a thick, sputtering cough, spitting hot bromine to the side as he choked. He tried to struggle away from the gargantuan, thick gloved hands holding him down over the edge of the cleansing pool, but the guard moved his grip to his antennae, drawing a strangled yelp from his shivering lips before cutting him off completely and forcing him back under the surface. Purple felt the guard's formidable other hand snake around to his nude ribcage, bearing down with excessive pressure and forcing the precious air from his lungs as the thrashed and suffocated in utter, psyche destroying horror for what was to come. Was he going to die? No…they wouldn't let him; they weren't that kind. They were only here to punish him for his wrongdoings, to rap him on the back of the knuckles as they always said. His torture varied from day to day depending on the severity of his perceived wrongdoing but was never enough to scar or permanently damage his coveted body. The burns against the pads of his fingers from the tip of a white-hot plasma torch never went deep enough, the sting of open handed smacks never bruised black enough, and the fervent full body checks as he was manhandled and made to strip before the Control Brains for his monthly evaluation brought about a bottomless, humiliating agony worse than any physical pain ever could.

No, he was to be kept beautiful. And beauty was pain.

He couldn't breathe, feeling his overworked body viciously panic and instinctually fly up to claw at the dominating fingers clamped over his stalks, digging his well-manicured nails into jet black leather and trying to yell for the guard to pull him back up when the beginning fringes of ruthless vision loss feathered in the corners of his eyes. His body inhaled on impulse, drawing a smoldering lungful of awful metallic-tasting liquid down into his chest as he was finally yanked free and tossed back against the tile to horrendously gag and spit up waves of rust colored bromine, struggling to stay upright on unsteady arms.

"I think that's enough. I'm sure he understands my point."

Purple tried to shake the disgustingly nauseated, swimming feeling from the back of his skull but instead collapsed down to a hard sit as he feebly spat to the side and registered the unfortunately familiar voice of his stringent, foul personal advisor, Lire, snapping for the hesitant guard to move away and leave him with enough privacy to finish the suppurating talk that Purple knew was to slap him in the face after his body-razing punishment. The guard wavered, glancing down to where Purple sluggishly met his gaze before swallowing thickly and turning reluctantly on his heel to take his leave, silently slinging the hatch open before gingerly shutting it behind him. Purple let his eyes flutter shut as he fell back and tried to slur out some semblance of an indistinct, exhausted apology when he heard Lire's expensive polished boots click and echo strictly across the once clean tile now littered with puddles of his own dripping spit and rosy bromine. Everything hurt; his back throbbed from the spine-breaking grip of the guard tasked with doing the one appalling job none of them wanted to be called to, his fingers had been rubbed raw from hours of pushing back against the lip of the porcelain bath as he fought to no avail, and his chest felt ready to explode as bitter liquid invaded his precious organs. He wanted to sleep, to pass out for cycles and never wake up unless he was absolutely sure he would never be guided back into the nightmarish reality his pitiful excuse for a life had become.

But, this wasn't life. This was servitude.

Lire tapped at his bare shoulder with the toe of his boot, glaring down with deep green eyes and a sadistic glower turning his sharp toothed grin into a deep, appallingly disappointed frown. "Do you know why you've made me do this?" He whispered, kneeling and gently running a calloused palm down the side of Purple's face as he turned away in shame and let go of all the carefully concealed emotions festering in his depleted spooch, sob after viscous sob sending fat tears rolling down his frigid cheeks when he curled into himself and tried to shy away from the repulsively gentle, cruel touch. "You ordered food to your room without permission and proceeded to shake the hand of the service drone that brought it. You know that no one is to touch you besides the chosen few."

Purple smacked his hands over his raw eyes as he cried, whining and squirming when Lire tried to grab at his jaw and force him to make eye contact. "I-I said I was sorry! I-I'm sorry! I…I got hungry and I just thought-" He was cut short when a merciless, open-handed smack landed against his jaw and rocketed him back into the present.

Lire moved down to grab him by his thin shoulders, tugging him back to a sit against his will and striking him hard against the other cheek for good measure before hissing at the sting in his own palm and curling his fingers back when Purple ran his own trembling touch up over the blazing smolder fanning out through his skin like glowing coals. He looked to his exposed lap, clamping his knees shut and drawing them into his chest as he shivered in the icy temperature Lire had instructed the room be kept at for optimum discomfort, resting his forehead against his joints as he stared at nothing and tried to go to his happy place billions of lightcycles away on…he didn't really know. Part of him wanted to run and never return, to find his own way somewhere else in the galaxy away from the Massive and away from the tiny room his Tallest had ordered he be stowed away in like a doll until his marriage was authorized by Prime Minister Ipi and he ascended to the pinnacle of Irken society. That was the only thing keeping him tethered to this torturous, despicable place; the knowledge that one day he would be formidable and feared enough to obliterate and heartlessly torment all those who touched him, all those who shamed and belittled him for glancing in the wrong direction or attempting to make friends with the staff working on the Massive out of sheer deprived desperation. He would enjoy it, pegging every single officer in Tallest Del's cabinet for different treatment as his reign ensued and his revenge cracked open the first wave of new Irk order. There would be no more body shaming, no more virginity checks, no more globs of skin-drying, gooey makeup slathered and streaked over his skin. He would be free.

He would be free.

Hopefully.

Lire cleared his throat and ran a disconcertingly benevolent hand up over Purple's limp antennae as he thought. "You know I only want what is best for you and the future of this planet. I have to hurt you so you will learn." He breathed against his flaccid stalks, bending down and breathing repulsively against his slick, cold skin. "What if that service drone had decided that you were beautiful enough to touch in other ways? Do you realize how dangerous a situation you were in? Sen and Ipi will not take you if you are tarnished, and I will not have your insolence ruin our only chance for standing peace with that hideous empire of theirs. Tallest Del put me in charge of your development for a reason, and you will not make me look like a fool. Do I make myself clear?"

Purple cringed and folded further into himself when the weight of the crushing atmosphere around him pressed along his spine and threatened to shatter him completely. "Yes, sir." He mumbled, biting his lip to hold back another torrent of hot, hopeless tears. "I-I apologize."

Lire nodded and patted him flippantly on the forehead in approval to the ignominy dripping from his prisoner's hoarse, disgraced voice, hastily moving across the room and scooping up the remainder of the welcoming, warm towels from the cupboard before turning back. "You will not be needing these any time soon, understand?" He waited for Purple to nod before slinging himself over to the hatch with a faint smile. "I will be back for you in five hours and if I find you have left the cleansing room, we'll have to start over. Please, be good for your own sake."

With that, he balanced Purple's only fluffy, saving grace on his arm before working open the thick metal of the hatch, slamming it shut behind him and making his captive jump where he sat. As soon as Lire was out of range, Purple forced himself up to his erratic, unstable feet and tried to move, reaching out with a shuddering palm and stabilizing himself against the far wall when he nearly collapsed once more. He felt profoundly ill as he tried to wipe the lingering taste of bitter bromine from his dehydrated tongue, giving up on walking off the agony and instead slumping back down to slide against the wall and disintegrate into a heap of self-loathing and ridicule bouncing in his muffled, despairing cognizance. He let his arms fall limply at his sides and looked up with stinging eyes to the gorgeous, beautifully detailed map of their known universe commissioned by Tallest Del to be painted over the ceiling of his cleansing room, finding a strange sense of comfort as he traced every constellation and relayed hushed stories to himself of intergalactic battles long since past for generations and moving on to the stunning, absolutely enticing stipple of green dotting the far edge of the galaxy.

Purple smiled when he found it, letting it turn to a grin when he closed his eyes and imagined what that place was like. He'd heard stories of a nebula so vivid and gorgeous that it moved even the most broken, hard-hearted individuals to tears beyond what they had ever known. He went here in his imagination when he hurt, swimming in the formless eddy of cerulean mixing with the deep forest hues of wafting gases not yet solidified into tangible realism. He always wondered what it would become in a million cycles, who would be birthed from the primordial building blocks of nature and wishing he could be born again along with them.

He took a deep, shuddering breath and swallowed, opening his mouth to speak to anyone who would listen but knowing that no one would ever care hear. "Look, Universe, I know you hate me but…I dunno." He wavered, feeling ridiculous and childish for conversing with the atmosphere. "Either let me become Tallest fast or…take me away from this place. I don't care how or where I end up, I just don't want to be here anymore. Maybe you could send someone my way who actually cares enough to take me out of here. But…geez, forget it. I'm talking to myself, aren't I?"

He shook his head with a bitter chuckle and slumped further into the white porcelain of the wall as his hands and feet went completely numb. Pitiful. Absolutely, disgustingly pitiful. There was no way he was leaving anytime soon and his engagement to a foreign woman he'd never even seen in person was still being planned over secretive conference tables and military functions. He would never return to his peaceful life as a scientist, he would never see through his honorable draft as a soldier in the Elite, and he would never be saved by some fictitious hero prancing with a sword and shield through his destroyed fantasies.

He was alone.

He would forever be alone.

* * *

**The present in the glittering, snow covered forests of rural Callnowia**

Purple tried not to make a sound, groaning and straining violently under the weight of the General bogging him down like quicksand and forcing him to slip and slide through the heavy embankment and up across the other side of the steep valley. He felt his pulse quicken with every step, creeping with a stunning lack of grace over ice shrouded boulders and gnarled tree roots he managed to use for leverage, gritting his teeth to the clean break in his wrist and glancing back intermittently as shouts and barks of fluid Callnowian rang out in the near distance. They had to make it to the hatch before the rebel squad crested the peak of the hill and caught them completely exposed. There was no shadow of doubt in Purple's racing mind as he panted that they would open fire and obliterate them both for the fun of it, taking him out of his misery, but also taking with them the man who had saved his life and whatever chance Irk had at peace, not that he really cared about it in the momen. He had to repay his debt, instinct and a need for social order drawing him on through the brambly thicket as he growled in agony under his rapid breath and felt slick, rapidly cooling blood ooze through his fingers from the General's half mangled skin. Finally, he managed to get a foothold over the lip of the hill, bracing himself and hooking the toe of his boot into a root before letting out a shriek and pulling the comatose officer up to his level. He collapsed down into the snow, staring up at the rapidly darkening canopy and trying to will himself to keep going as he rolled painfully onto his side and caught sight of the beautiful, long awaited metal of the rusted out hatch buried deep in the pillowy resonance of winter barely a few feet away. He gasped and gained a sudden burst of adrenaline, scrambling to his feet and wiping his relieved, exhausted tears on the back of his hand as he stooped and banged on the safety door, listening to the booming, cavernous yawn echo deep into the soil beneath him. He hooked his fingers into the handle and gave a tentative tug, cursing to himself when he found that the latch had frozen solid, instead throwing out his PAK legs and chipping away at cycles of accumulated permafrost and debris before stopping dead in his tracks. Across the valley, a single, young Callnowian cadet had popped himself free from the tree line, clinking his smooth fingers over the heating barrel of a semi-automatic plasma rifle as he squinted his five disgusting, black eyes and scanned the terrain, immediately noticing the deep tracks Purple had left as he drug the limp General behind him.

Purple cried out in terror when the Callnowian finally made eye contact, catching himself off guard as he fumbled with the safety of his weapon and violently shouted something under the howl of the piercing wind before kneeling and opening fire. Purple flew to the ground, ducking and earning a face full of stinging snow as he continued to frantically work, finally tugging free the latch and laboring to hoist open the massive door before skittering back through the embankment to where he had left the now frozen General to wait out the torment. Another booming shot whizzed between his antennae, sweltering heat prickling over his skin as two more natives shot out of the underbrush and took off in an expert slide down the steep side of the valley on long, narrow legs, unfeeling to the bitter frost encasing them all in their eventual doom. Purple panicked, fear rising in his spooch as his mind went a mile a minute and he lost all sense of rational direction, looming over the hatch and staring down through the appalling unknown and into the blinding darkness stretching beyond the ladder beneath him. He quickly grabbed for his plasma pistol and dropped it into the gaping hole, craning his antennae forward and counting the seconds it took to pick up on the still audible click of metal landing on worn down metal. The bottom wasn't as far as he thought, grabbing the General under the arm and mumbling a hasty apology as he went into shock and dropped him to the blackness below, hearing his unresponsive body hit the floor before slinging himself through the hatch on cold stiffened PAK legs. He held back another cry of agonizing terror when he caught sight of two clawed hands scraping their way up the other side of the hill a few feet away, hastily tugging the hatch closed and fumbling rapidly to seal the lock to no avail, finding it had jammed completely and holding his breath when he flitted through his PAK for his lasers, bringing them to the edge of the old, battered titanium and squinting against the sparks flying back in his face as he balanced precariously on the ladder and managed to halfway weld it shut.

Purple swallowed and urged his hyperventilating lungs to still, squeezing his eyes shut when two sets of violent hands banged and thrashed aggressively against the outside of their makeshift stronghold, eating away at his judgement and petrifying him in tremendous, unbearable dread and hoping with all his might that that his makeshift seal would hold. He strained against the lack of light, flicking on his glowing ocular implants and managing a blink in the darkness as he clamped a hand over his mouth to the sound of plasma shots booming back against the titanium and deafening his flattened antennae, setting his hearing into a spiral of muffled ringing before suspiciously perking when he heard an almost inaudible, thwarted voice chattering back and suddenly moving away.

Purple waited for what felt like cycles, his good hand clutching at the chilly rungs of the outdated ladder beneath him, listening to the wraithlike flutter of wind outside and finally determining with a great sigh of blistering relief that the Callnowian faction had moved on and deemed them a lost cause to the elements. He couldn't help himself, flying into a fit of giddy, adrenaline-fueled giggles as he smoothed a hand over his tear-streaked face and made the short descent to the main quarters of the stronghold, nearly tripping over the officer where he hand landed facedown in a puddle of his own sticky lifeforce leaking away in puddles and staining the gray undershirt of his uniform, snatching back at the pistol and shoving it in his belt. He shook free his unsteady elation at having made it out of the lion's den alive to finally address the dire medical state the General was slipping deeper into, hunting around the tiny stronghold for anything he could use to stop the bleeding. There was no light, but he could barely make out several beautifully done political portraits and busts of Tallest Del in his prime, painting the walls with his opulence along with some of his closest, most feared advisors. A few dusty chairs and a plush, opulent loveseat sat in the middle of the floor surrounding a table that undoubtedly once held battle plans for the encroaching Irken invasion of Callnowia, Purple shuddering when he could almost hear the authoritative voices of five star Generals and Colonels speaking on hushed loops over how they were to take the capitol under the noses of their former, and still somewhat, enemies. He nearly cried when he noticed a fireplace, blacked with stale ash from overuse and beckoning him on sweeter than candy, urging him to come and take the much-needed heat for himself and finally feel relief from the unbearable, skin-cracking cold. He bounded over and stooped, brushing the tiny kindle of dusty shavings left behind from cycles of glowing plasma fires before catching sight of a single, dried out log standing alongside the mantle, grabbing for it and thrusting it into the protective casing to tug free a single PAK leg and igniting a spark with his white-hot lasers, cursing when nothing happened and but determined to warm them both even for a while. He tried again, almost screaming when a tiny kindle erupted and leisurely crept along the underside of the log, engulfing it quickly as the tiny room was illuminated in the balmy glow of flickering oranges and pale, welcoming yellows dancing across painted faces and long forgotten cushions. He held up his aching hands to the radiance, purring into the refreshing buzz of coveted heat creeping up over his blue-tinged skin and battling back the startling prickle of frostbite nearly claiming his digits for the worst. He stayed that way a few minutes, losing himself to the comfort before perking up in alarm and choking on his own tongue when he nearly forgot the steadily bleeding out General lazing against the frigid metal behind him.

Purple reluctantly pulled himself away from the massive, sparking fireplace, standing from his knees and striding back to grab for the officer and dragging him before the now steadily popping and gently sizzling before throwing himself back down and struggling to tug away the clasps of the General's chest respirator, tossing it carelessly to the side. He was incredibly pale, his face devoid of any lick of vivid green and turning insipid as Purple held his breath and tugged his undershirt free from his belt to work it up over his side, immediately shrinking back at the overly disgusting wound glaring back at him. The officer had taken a nasty, gruesome shot just beneath his lower spooch and his entire left side was slick with crusting blood, Purple taking a deep breath and trying not to gag as he dug through his mind for whatever meager medical knowledge he had learned in the field of science and remembering in the Academy that they had suggested to use PAK legs to cauterize a wound in the event of severe bleeding. Great…absolutely fantastic. He clamped his mouth shut, placing his hands on either side of the General's abdomen as he brought out a shaky, unsure extension from deep within his hardware, baring down as much as he could through the awful throb in his wrist before squeezing his eyes shut and firing a single, searing bolt of blazing, flesh-melting plasma against the officer's skin, immediately closing off the wound and causing Purple to stumble back in shock when the General finally came too with a powerful war cry, shooting up from the floor in a violent, blood-thirsty daze before immediately collapsing back down and shrieking in overwhelming suffering. He rolled onto his side as he wailed and writhed against the insufferable, smoldering agony in his abdomen and reached back for his plasma pistol to find it gone, again faltering and falling forward face first as Purple tried to collect himself and grew frantic, rushing forward and taking the officer gingerly by the shoulders, batting back his attempts to claw savagely up at his face in a blind, incoherent struggle for the life he was sure he was somehow about to lose. Purple forced him back down with a growl, searching his tear-streaked features as his once powerful, dominating face contorted into something pitiable and terrifying to witness, the physical manifestation of all Irken anguish coming together and blooming over the shell-shocked cheeks of the man he had only just met.

"Hey! G-General, you've been shot! Um…Can you hear me?!" Purple stuttered desperately, pulling back when the disoriented officer tried to bite at his fingers with razor sharp teeth. He stood, grabbing for a dusty cushion from the loveseat and gingerly helping move him closer to their meager fire as the General lost his stamina and went limp once more, reduced to a fit of low, pained groans as he attempted to open his sweltering crimson eyes but failed. "Sir, can you hear me? You were shot down over, eh, wherever we are." Purple propped him up, sliding the musty cushion beneath his neck and feeling his breath hitch when he finally received some semblance of an answer.

The General turned to face the rising temperature, shivering violently as he mumbled under his breath and coughed, trying to sling his hands over his side to reach for the sputtering flame. "Irk…wha…?" He slurred, sinking deeper into the cushion when Purple tenderly brushed his antennae back and tried to prompt him gently awake. "Where…where the hell…?"

Purple swallowed, moving to loom over his violently shaking form as he gradually came to and let his heavy eyelids flutter open, latching onto the two curious, but utterly perturbed, violet orbs glowing back at him through the low light. Purple froze with a blink when he realized this was the first contact with another Irken he'd been allowed to have in over two cycles, hastily peeling his hands away from where he had instinctually moved to lower the officer's shirt over his gory side, realizing in the heat of the strange, unexpected moment that he probably looked like a total fool and resorting to trying to blubber out an under planned, gawky apology when the General held his eye contact and watched through his pain from below.

"W-Who are you?" He asked slowly, gritting his teeth and sighing, his body liquifying when his PAK finally sent delicious sedatives to the site to numb him into incredible, soothing acquiescence. He looked Purple over, glancing down to his tattered uniform before something clicked in his mind and he flashed him an affectionate smile. "Wait…you're that chick I saved from that Callnowian bastard."

"C-Chick?!" Purple shouted back louder than he should have, watching as the General's face turned from one of loving understanding to horrified embarrassment. "Excuse me?! You thought I was a…a…_woman_?!"

The General swiftly turned away, averting his trailing gaze to the ceiling before shaking his head and instead staring down at his gory lap, unsure of where to look and growing exasperated when the color flooded back to his cheeks in rapid succession to stain him a deep shade of humiliated pink. "Oh shit! Y-You're a guy!" He sputtered, refusing to make eye contact as he looked at everything but the irate, wholly irritated lavender staring back at him like a hot poker and frying his logical mind beyond recognition. "Forgive me, cadet! From far away you just sorta…eh…"

Purple rolled his eyes and stood, crossing to the loveseat and throwing himself down before coughing as a thick wave of impenetrable dust clouded up to meet his sudden weight. He waved a hand before his face, crossing his legs then immediately planting both feet back on the ground when the officer snickered at how overly feminine his mannerisms were, Purple trying to overcompensate by leaning back into the folds of the decrepit couch and crossing his arms over his chest with a deepest scowl.

Neither said anything for a long while, the General gradually coming around to the gorgeous warmth and Purple trying not to stare at the bizarrely mesmerizing shade of brilliant red glittering in the light and wafting through the room to try and beckon him forward. They had been beautiful when the General was unconscious, but now they were absolutely stunning, tempting even. Ugh. He sneered and shook his head, feeling a pang of terror rocket up his spine as past remembrances of Lire's physical torment resurfaced and stabbed through his chest, riddling the code of his PAK with agonizing flashbacks he tried to swallow down. No. Lire was dead. Lire was dead and gone, and he would never come back to haunt his weary soul for as long as Purple walked the universe and took planets in his name. He was free of the makeup, free of the disgusting, fleeting touches here and there he hadn't consented to, but still, some deep-rooted element in him couldn't stand to be in the room with the General when he was awake. He had been conditioned to keep to himself, to fear all others and fear their advances no matter how friendly they seemed on the outside. Lire had hammered it into him for twenty-four months; no friends, no colleagues, no lovers.

_No one can know you._

_ You're a ghost. You don't exist until we say you do._

_ You belong to us._

Belong.

Belong.

Belong.

Purple took a sharp inhale and turned, letting his frown return when he noticed the General had pulled up his undershirt to carelessly poke at the now closed wound in his side, showing off more of his body then Purple wanted to see, sneering and snickering with a deep sigh before turning back to the fire.

"Geez, another scar for the books, huh?" He chuckled halfheartedly, staring into the formless, wavering flame and letting the light bounce off of his ocular lenses. "So, it's just you and me then? Everyone else is dead?"

Purple hesitated at the strange question, unsure of how to truly talk to anyone in an informal setting anymore and growing horrendously anxious with each passing moment. "Yes, sir." He settled on, keeping his responses plain and short, sinking further back into the cushions when the General managed to tug himself up despite his blood loss and mosey his way over to the couch to flop down next to the prized consort he didn't realize was sitting next to him.

"Sir? Gross. You don't have to bother with formalities." The General chuckled, leaning back and fiddling with his wrist gauntlet, popping the casing and tapping on the now completely dead screen before grumbling to himself and working it off. "Dammit, looks like the cold got to my communicator. You'd think that idiot Del would upgrade the Elite's standard issue tech, but I guess he's too greedy to give up any funds."

Purple gave a small nod and tightened his jaw, stiffening to the shifting weight beside him and listening to the General go on and on about pointless political atrocities, shimmying away over the cushions and holding his breath when the sly officer noticed.

"Hey, I don't bite. Are you still freaked out because I thought you were a girl?" He joked warmly, letting his enthusiasm fade as he eyed the false cadet closely. "What's your name, soldier? I'm General Styx, but everyone just calls me by my field name, Red."

Red…huh. Fitting.

Purple remained rigid, knowing once he was found and retrieved by Tallest Del's team when the alarm bells were rang and he hadn't made it to meet Sen and Ipi, he would most likely be severely punished for what little he had already said and done. The realization that he shouldn't be here began to set in, putting the hook of dread deep in the pit of Purple's stomach as he listened and remained silent, glancing over intermittently to the bright eyed General beaming back at him with genuine interest. He'd just been shot in the side and he still didn't seem to have a care in the world, basking in the gorgeous glow of the fireplace as he reached down and popped the button on one of the canvas pouches fastened to his belt, brandishing a chocolate candy bar with an overdone flourish before struggling to peel back the wrapper.

"What's the matter? You seemed pretty talkative a few minutes ago." Red pointed out, taking a bite and slinging his feet obnoxiously up over the edge of the couch to invade Purple's delicate personal space. "We might as well get to know each other while we wait for the rescue crews to arrive. My ship will have automatically sent out a distress signal when it went down, so all we have to do now is wait." He paused, smacking irritatingly on the caramel filling of his candy before asking a sudden question that had Purple's mind shorting. "Why do you look like that? You're fancier than the other cadets I know and you're covered in less blood and rust."

No, no, no!

This was exactly what Tallest Del had instructed Purple to keep quiet about. No one on the outside of their venture was ever supposed to know about his status or his mission and he was supposed to preserve the sanctity of his orders by keeping it that way. Red was forthcoming, asking too many personal questions too quickly and throwing Purple completely off track to his painstakingly cultivated poise and charm and turning him into a flustered, revolting mess of anxiety riddled thoughts and oozing emotion he was supposed to keep shrouded away under proverbial lock and key. If word got out that he was the consort sent to marry Prime Minister Ipi's daughter, every Irken and Callnowian rebel in the countryside would be after him; some would try to haul him away for overdone, infinitely expensive ransom, but others would want to string him up by his neck in the countryside to show of their utter distaste for the peace their two empires were trying to foster. Either way, the mission would take a turn for the worst and Purple would lose his status as the next heir to the command chair enticing him coyly from the Massive. His best bet was to remain quiet until Del's personal sweep team ventured to the surface to retrieve him for themselves, ushering him back on to his life of appalling, false opulence and pathetic amounts of glitter and reeking night creams. He would go back to marry someone he didn't love, to paint his claws with a glossy sheen that nauseated him beyond belief and play dressup with his new, haughty wife for her many formal parties and extravagant occasions before sweeping them both off for their happily ever after.

Happy.

What a hideous word.

Red leaned forward as he watched Purple go completely unresponsive to his own thoughts, curling his lip in perplexity and taking another slow, tentative bite of chocolate before offering up the other half, waving it in front of Purple's blank expression and resorting to setting the half eaten bar in his lap. He brought his claws together and plucked awkwardly at the fibers of the couch, clearing his throat when the silence became far too much for his active mind to handle.

Purple blinked and stared down at his boots at the sound he knew from his past meant trouble, straightening up and blurting out an overly formalized apology. "I-I'm sorry, sir!" He stammered, smoothing over his razed pantleg when he noticed a few creased wrinkles lingering there.

Red nodded, gradually distancing himself and slinging his legs back to the floor out of his own mounting unease for the strange, unnerving cadet fidgeting beside him. "Uh huh. So…do you have a name or am I gonna have to make something up to call you because I can think of some pretty funny stuff on the fly."

"Oh…um….i-it's…just call me Purple, sir."

"Purple? Is that your real name?"

"…no, sir."

"Irk, I told you to stop with the formalities. They make me feel weird."

"A-Ah! Y-Yes, sir!"

Red brought his slowly warming fingers to his temples with a frustrated groan, digging into his flesh and trying to force away the irritation boiling up in his chest. "I take it you haven't been in the Elite long, have you?" He sighed when Purple lied through his teeth and flashed him a cheesy, uncomfortable grin before shaking his head. Red rolled his eyes, but quickly recollected himself, flicking his antennae forward and examining Purple's impressive stature with leisure intent. "How is someone your height still just a cadet? You should be rising through the ranks with me. Oh! I forgot to ask you what company you're with so I can have you transferred back when we're eventually outta this hellhole."

Purple tried to fabricate a story on the fly, thinking back to the tale Lire had asked him to relay in the event he was captured or separated by enemy fire, feeling a sudden pang of an idea ricochet through his thoughts and break up the dense cloud that had come to hang over his rational judgment. Wait…wait….hang on. His lavender gaze snapped back up to Red's, swelling with hope and the renewed, devious will to fight when a sadistically clever idea popped in his head. Red narrowed his eyes back, moving back another inch when the catatonic violet ringing out through the pale radiance made his skin crawl. This could be Purple's chance. This could be his chance to slip away and become the ghost Tallest Del and Lire had always forced down his throat and told him he was deep inside. He would be a phantom, a slick conniving snake lying in wait in the grass as he was transferred back to a company on Irk to fade away for the rest of his days and travel out beyond his depressing, seemingly fated marriage. Sen and Ipi couldn't fault the Empire if he had 'died in action' and Sen could just pick another man from her catalogue to marry and call her own. He wouldn't become Tallest, but he would become his own man for the first time in the past two harrowing, nauseating cycles. He could lose his virginity, he could eat whatever he wanted, he could scream and fight and roll in the mud like an animal if he pleased.

"I'm from B Company." Purple piped up with renewed confidence, hoping his lie stuck and that the piercing gaze of the General didn't unravel the already precarious threads of his tale. "I was running a supply route to land locked rebels when my ship was shot down. Oh," he paused when Red wavered, listening intently and running his blistering gaze over the strangely thin fabric of his uniform, "thank you, Styx, I-I mean Red, for saving my life. I would probably be in pieces if you hadn't taken out that Stinger."

Red grinned in agreement and nodded down to the candy bar he'd placed atop Purple's knee. "Don't worry about it. Eat that, it'll help with the first time combat nerves." He reached out and held up Purple's good hand, laughing haughtily when a bubble of mortification popped over his face and he quickly grew flustered again, watching again for the tremor in his fingers and ignoring Purple's sputtering mess of a protest. "See? You're shell-shocked. Don't worry, it happens to the best of us and I've noticed that sugar always helps take the edge off. Sometimes I'll see a particularly gory body and it knocks the sense out of me, so I keep a few candy bars to stay level."

Purple tugged harshly away, snatching for the chocolate and trying not to show Red his incredible, humiliating innocence. He immaturely shoved the rest of the bar in his wide mouth and took his time chewing, relieved when Red turned his attention away and instead began to examine the whole of the room, standing with a pained limp to take inventory of their surroundings and formulate some kind of a game plan. Fortunately, he seemed to buy Purple's story and didn't question his shady motives or his uncharacteristically cheap uniform. Was he just that stupid or was he toying along with Purple for fun? He seemed nice enough, with an innocent, boisterous laugh to tame even the harshest of seas and an intelligent gleam in his eye that suggested he was well read and markedly learned, giving him an advanced edge over most of the shorter public around them.

"So, Purple of B company," Red purred unhurriedly as if he were stalking his prey, the sound of his rubber soles echoing over the frigid metal of the bunker as he paced the perimeter of the room and passivity admired the gorgeous paintings of their esteemed Tallest, "thanks for saving my life, but I'm not going to be transferring you back to your fictitious commanding officer. To be honest, I was just curious to see what you'd say if I got you here alone. Rumor has it you've never been able to be truly alone because the Empire doesn't trust all of us little guys with someone as important as you."

Purple shot up, dropping his crumpled wrapper to the floor and narrowing his eyes before letting them go wide with dread when Red shrugged flippantly and dug through the back pocket of his thermal leggings for a paper Purple had somehow neglected to see in his fear-fueled fugue, unfolding it gradually and clearing his throat before speaking and letting loose his damming, nightmarish orders.

"General Styx is to be tasked with overseeing the transport of Callnowian consort, nicknamed Purple, and is to ensure his safe and timely arrival at the capitol city of the Callnowian Empire for his eventual ascension to Tallest and fulfillment of the Irken-Callnowian Flesh Treaty. No harm is to come to his body, blah blah blah, he shall not be touched by anyone other than the approved listed few, yada yada yada. Signed and stamped by Almighty Tallest Del." Red whistled and tutted his tongue, flashing the paper in Purple's direction as his once friendly demeanor changed to something cold and distant. "Sorry, I thought it would be kind of fun to mess with you a bit while I warmed up, but you're my mission and I have orders from our Tallest to get you to your wife, even if we're way off schedule now. My ship sent out a distress signal and we should be rescued in a few hours. I really do appreciate you saving my life though, that whole crash wasn't planned. Oh! And don't worry. I won't tell anyone you had to touch me. That'll be between us since my job is technically on the line."

Purple didn't know what to say as Red chuckled and moved to grab for his respirator, wincing as he stooped and struggled against the excruciating burn in his skin. No. This wasn't possible. This had to be some kind of sadistic, horrendous nightmare, Purple feeling his entire, fleeting plans for escape and lifelong redemption fall away from his now trembling grasp as Red stared him down with an overly logical scrutiny that made him want to double over and get physically sick from overstimulation and mental unease. Del had been…trailing them? Purple wanted to smack himself for being so idiotically blind, feeling every ounce of cognizant sanity slip as his fight or flight reflexes began to kick in and his pulse thumped violently through his chest. He should have known his Tallest would have someone lingering on the sidelines; he wouldn't have just let Lire himself transport Purple to his waiting, prolonged demise. No, he had sent a hardened, clever General on his tail for Irk knows how long, violating what little privacy Purple had thought he maintained and instead proving in a single minute that he had never been alone, no matter how much he felt it. There was no telling how long Red had been watching him from the shadows, how much he knew about his life or his habits, and how much he had seen of his sickening routine of pride and punishment.

Purple couldn't go back.

No…he wouldn't go back.

He was going to be free, whether Del liked it or not. Forget being Tallest, forget the political marriage, forget all of the rigmarole he had no shred of decent interest in participating in. He wasn't a toy, he wasn't an expendable plaything for the aristocracy, and he wasn't Red's mission.

Never again.

Purple flew back without thinking and drew Red's plasma pistol from his belt, throwing it out in front of him as he braced himself against the floor and dug his heels into the titanium. "Don't move! I-I mean it!" He barked aggressively, watching as Red's gaze snapped up with annoyed displeasure, followed by a dismissive snicker. "I was top of my class in marksmanship back in the Academy and I'm not afraid to shoot you!"

Red laughed cockily, throwing his arms wide before returning to readjusting the hoses of his respirator to his PAK, struggling to make the connection as he broke eye contact with Purple where he seethed and all but blew him off. "Oh, please. That was training, consort, but out here is the real world. Out here you take souls and get blood on your hands, not shoot at holographic targets that disappear when you hit them." His voice deepened to something serious and dark, stalking forward and eating Purple alive with his dominating, bottomless stare. "You shoot me, I'm not going away. I'll hang out in that pretty little head of yours until you die and invade your dreams and I don't want to see you throw away your future for something as stupid as killing a general. I'm just doing my job, and we're stuck here together until we're picked up, remember? I'm also not allowed to harm you, so this isn't really a fair fight. Just give me the gun and we'll forget this ever happened."

"N-No! You don't know what they do to me! I'm not going back!"

"Sorry, but I have my orders. I can't just defy Tallest Del, do you know what he'd do to us both if he found out I let you walk away from the treaty? No thank you!"

Purple knew he was right, feeling his legs tremble as he maintained his impromptu battle stance and trained his shaking, erratic hands between Red's eyes as he watched him from behind half-lidded eyes. That stare…that stare was ethereal and wraithlike, a whole galaxy in itself nestled deep in that cherry red, intimidating hue and almost drawing Purple in with its gravitational pull. Was he really going to end Red's young life here and now to save his own? Was he going to sacrifice the good of the Empire and their standing peace for his own stubbornness and agonizing abuse? What about Sen? If he didn't show up, would her mother lay waste to his people and throw out the treaty all together? Purple couldn't stand the thunderous noise of cascading questions pounding through his mind, taking a tentative step back, all the while keeping his aim trained firmly at Red's sensitive flesh as he remained calm and collected beneath the awful, terrifying weight of death moving to stain the once peaceful atmosphere. He didn't know what to do, moving his trembling finger to the delicate trigger and holding his breath, knowing in the pit of everything he had endured he had to do this for his own freedom. He had to be free at last and take back what had been so wrongfully stolen from him cycles ago to be replaced with the robotic vision of sickening compliance.

Never again would he be walked on like stairs.

Never again would he be subjected to the agonizing abuse.

Never again would he be told who he had to marry or why.

No…he was going to end this.

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Oop! Hope you guys like the chapter and I will be posting our updates every Wednesday and Sunday!

Our next update is; **Wednesday, January 8, 2020 at 10:00 pm CDT (UTC-5)**


	3. Who Are You?

Welcome back to our weekly Wednesday chapter of Fire in the Snow! I'm glad this is already having a good reception, and I'm so happy you guys are enjoying what I write! We've picked up some new lovelies along the way, and I wanted to welcome **AimTrekRaider7** and **BadLuckAlice **to the follow family! Thank you so much darlings for your support, and I'm happy you joined out little community! Ok! Let's get to it!

_**ANNOUNCEMENT: THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE LIVE ON MONDAY 1/13/2020 AT 12:00 PM (NOON) CDT (UTC -5) BECAUSE I NEED SOME MORE TIME TO FLESH OUT THE CHAPTER AND MAKE IT EXTRA DARK AND SPOOKY! I HOPE THAT I SEE YOU GUYS THEN AND I HOPE THAT YOU UNDERSTAND! I NEVER WANT TO POST SUB PAR CONTENT, AND WANT TO MAKE SURE IT IS THE BEST I CAN OFFER! LOVE YOU!**_

**Chapter rated M for obvious allusions to abuse, obvious allusions to PTSD, suicide attempt, brief heavy language, and general adult content.**

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"Give me the gun." Red remained firm, gingerly lowering himself to set his respirator back to the ground before raising a hand in defense, delicately reaching out with his other to try and beckon the furious, shivering consort forward.

He winced, swallowing thickly when Purple cocked the slide, his trembling hands unsteady but his aim trained to the best of his ability between Red's eyes. He couldn't tell if he was intent to maim or if he was simply terrified, a mess of nerves and mental instability glimmering back through the low glow of the fire and threatening to end everything Red had worked to achieve with a single searing bolt of plasma shattering his skull. He'd clawed his way to where he was, fought ruthlessly for his life, and picked off a few disturbing monsters along the way to get to where he was. Of course, this idiotic consort would get in the way with his deep-set sob story and perfect chattering teeth as he tried not to cry through whatever flashbacks he was having, throwing another hitch into the already disastrous ploy Red was trying to achieve. He didn't have time to play games and had to get them both to the capitol to meet Prime Minister Ipi and Sen, extending his palm further as his mission took an erratic step back at the sudden advance, tightening his fingers around the crimson grip of Red's slowly heating pistol as a single, irate tear scalded its way down his freckled cheek and landed on the tattered mess of a disguise he had been forced into.

"Purple," He tried again, using his nickname for leverage and straightening back up as he let a false purr escape from his chest, trying to manipulate the terrified flesh offering into some semblance of rational thought. "You have no idea what you're playing with. If you shoot me, a lot is gonna go wrong that you're not prepared to handle." He flashed him a wary smile and hung back, waiting for him to lower his weapon and frowning when he didn't. "Come on, you don't even know me. Would you let me explain?"

Purple shook his head and remained adamant in his devious decision. "S-Stop playing with me! You already messed with me once and I'm not letting you do it again!" He ordered, tone slicked perilously with depressed hatred. "I'm not going back and I'm not letting you take me!"

Red rolled his eyes with a long exhale bordering on the fringes of defeat, still refusing to fold to the demands of the warm body he covertly needed alive. Man, Purple was actually serious? This was bad and much worse than he was ever expecting this to go, shattering the full extent of Red's backwater motives and bringing him back down to the level of subservience he hated. He hated being told what to do, feeling a spark of guttural fire bloom in his chest with every bounce of Purple's commanding voice and wanting nothing more than to lunge forward and pistol whip him across his smug, perfect face until he bled.

But he couldn't do that, could he?

No, that would _officially_ ruin the plan.

Red moved to sit back on the musty loveseat, turning his back on his attacker and slinging an arm up over the armrest to stare into the fire as he mulled over how much he could say without giving up the beauty of his well-planned, much anticipated philosophies hopefully coming to a delicious head in the physical. He'd watched Purple from afar for over six long months since his transfer to Tallest Del's team of high command, plotting from the shadows as he took his timed showers under the watchful eye of a troop of guards, slathered himself in expensive perfumes and oils from faraway lands and planets to delicious flawlessness, and was subjected to the body-shaming torture wrapped up in the guise of exquisite social conditioning. He was a mess, a bruised, obliterated shell of what he once was tasked with acting in the best interest of the Empire when he himself was a barely legal kid in his early two hundreds still trying to find his own way in the universe. Red had thought a few times if he should step forward when the agonizing screams and soft crying punctured his usually apathetic morality, sometimes slumping against Purple's door on his nightly rounds to listen to his soft, despondent voice from where he had been locked away from the public eye to become nothing more than an idea for their Tallest to toy with, a trophy continuously polished to excruciating perfection as he sang himself to sleep with ethereal Irken folk songs or punched out his grueling frustrations against his wall. He was velvet soft, delightfully beautiful to look at, and infinitely disturbed in the mind, but he was still the single most important shot Red had at getting everything he wanted and needed to happen.

He sighed to himself when he heard Purple's finger click over the sensitive trigger behind him, taking a step forward against the frigid metal of the floor to gain a better shot.

"Look, I know you don't know me, but I know you and I know what they've done to you." Red mumbled, watching the flames of their now dying fire lick at the safety grate of the charred fireplace. "You're nothing more than a consort to them but I'm giving you a chance to change that. I need you on my side."

Purple sniffed and tried to hold back his cascading emotion, letting a sob spill from his lips when his claw grazed the groove of the trigger he could use to end it all, blinking when he realized what that meant. Wait…end it all. He could end it all. A sudden peace washed over him and warmed him head to toe, flooding his body with a tranquil grace he hadn't felt in so long as the idea festered quickly in his exhausted mind a exploded into desire, clutching his broken wrist against his chest as a small, pathetically despairing smile cracked his flushed, tear-stained complexion.

"Y-You know me? N-No one ever wanted to know me." He whispered, lowering his weapon when Red nodded shortly to himself. He waited, hesitating in the radiance as Red explained his still shady, unclear ploy, not noticing when Purple instead brought the pistol to his own soft, supple temple and held his breath. "I-If you know me, you'll understand why I won't go back."

Red stared down at his feet, unaware of the tragic scene unfolding in languid sweeps behind him as his mission fought with his own sanity and squeezed his eyes shut. "I've been on your advisory team for six months following my promotion. I was originally tasked with ensuring no one broke into your room or tried to undermine the Flesh Treaty by taking you for ransom, but it developed into something different the more I watched, and I knew you'd be helpful to my cause." He explained leisurely, still unenthused that his precious mask was being peeled away. "If you want to kill me, go ahead, but know that if you do, you're sealing the fate of our entire Empire with a single shot and you'll never have a chance at peace. Even when you ascend to Tallest you'll never be able to have any sway and you'll die young like they want. Do you understand?"

Purple pressed the barrel further into his skin, relishing in the sting of white hot heat he had come to know so well when Lire would ruthlessly burn the pads of his fingers for gracelessly overeating or sloppily speaking out of line. "D-Die? What are you talking about? I-I'm gonna die anyway, so what does it matter?" He clenched his jaw and braced for impact with a whimper that quickly turned to a sobbing laugh, finally feeling in true, unbridled control for the first time in his life.

Control.

He had control.

He...had...control.

Red paused at the eerie, uncanny sound, spinning where he sat and letting his eyes fly wide as he jumped up with a shout, racing forward and tackling Purple to the ground as he squeezed the trigger. He rocketed them both back to the hard floor as Purple cried out, his sweltering suicide shot booming just between his antennae and smacking into the far wall to ricochet back as Red threw his body over his and shielded him from the rebound before growling and wrestling the pistol away from his hand and tossing it behind him. He grabbed for Purple's wrists as he thrashed violently under his bodyweight and clawed at his face, slamming him back against the metal and clutching his hands in his strong fingers, bringing his other to Purple's jaw and powerfully squeezing as he panted and tried to come down from the terrifying, mind-numbing realization of what had almost transpired. Purple immediately burst into tears beneath him at the all-too-familiar, brutally rough treatment, trying with all his strength to pull away and retreat but Red held firm, burning him with his merciless, tyrannical glare from above and forcing his face down into the floor as he cried.

"I-Irk, are you fucking crazy?!" Red barked, his own tone wavering alarmingly with an emotion Purple couldn't pin down as his pulse rang in his antennae. "What, were you just gonna blow your brains across the bunker and think that'll solve everything?! I wanna give you the opportunity to change your life and you're throwing it all away!"

Purple squeezed his eyes shut and picked up his heartbreaking flood of undesirable emotion, audibly battling with his own pain combined with the horrendous break in his delicate wrist stamped under Red's steadfast control. "I-I…They can't take me if I'm dead! I-I thought I would be able to wait until I was Tallest and stick out all this bullshit but I…I-I _can't_! I can't do it! I-I can't do it anymore!" He bawled vehemently, coating Red's fingers digging into his cheeks with salty agony and cycles of pent up torture. "Y-You don't know what it's like! Y-You don't know what they'll do to me if I don't show up to the capitol on time o-or when they find out that crash cut and scarred my skin! Irk, they'll probably hang me once they know you've touched me! T-They won't take me for the treaty and they'll kill me so let me end it the way _I_ want to before they do it for me!"

Red growled and forced him further into the grimy metal, clamping his palm over his mouth to stifle the obnoxious string of self-loathing pouring like a sadistic faucet from his target and giving him a throbbing headache. "You think I don't know pain? Huh? You think I haven't been through torture and people shaming me into nothing?!" He took a deep breath and reeled himself back in, removing his palm when he felt Purple's breath hitch against his skin and nearly choke. "Killing yourself won't solve anything. You're stuck with the life you have whether you like it or not and you can either choose to give up and let those sadistic assholes win, or you can do something about it! Are you gonna be their prey for the rest of your life or are you gonna hunt them down?!"

Hunt who down?

Del? Sen? What was he talking about?

Purple blinked, freezing beneath Red's untamed speech and staring up in awe when he caught sight of his slowly healing scars over his bruised arm, hunting through his PAK and pulling out a tiny vial of disgusting, pungent ointment before gingerly pulling his hands back and struggling with the cap, taking Purple's arm in his hand and smearing the painful, stinging medicine over his long gashes before scrunching up his face in utter disgust to the stench.

"Irk, this stuff stinks. I figured you'd hurt yourself eventually and ruin our shot, so I stole this from Del's office during his Probing Day party." He explained, recapping the mysterious goopy substance before shrouding it back in his internal hardware. "He uses it to keep himself looking young, so it should take care of your scars in a few hours. No one will ever know you even had them."

Purple felt his breath catch as a lump formed in his throat, letting his eyes flutter down to where the deep blue salve had begun to work in tandem with his PAK healing systems, slowly stitching together his razed, cold-bitten skin to smooth it over like clay. "Who…" He tried to ask as Red stood and reached down, scooping him up by the shoulders before leading him to the loveseat and grabbing for a filthy woolen blanket shrouded over the back, quickly shaking it out before trying to sling it around Purple's shivering shoulders. "Why don't you use that stuff?"

Red lowered himself back down and watched him out of the corner of his eye, a look of serious contemplation flashing over his scarred features as he tried to pull down his tattered sleeves to the mess of battle-hardened skin giving away tiny glimpses of his dubious past. "I don't wanna forget." He said vaguely with passive interest, the low light casting daunting shadows over his sharp features.

Forget? Did he...had he gone through something similar? Huh.

A droning silence fell over the room as the two sat together, uniforms stained with a mixture of sweat, blood, and gritty tears as they tried not to address the weight crushing down over them both and forcing them what felt like dastardly miles apart across the meager few inches of room splayed between them. Red's sweltering body heat poured off of him like a furnace, heating Purple's shoulder through the thick fabric as he fidgeted uncomfortably and went to clean his face, eyeing the pistol from where it had skidded and landed in the corner and out of his reach before looking back to Red. He was comforting in a way, strange and annoying, but comforting to be around in all of Purple's long standing loneliness. He had lost all whimsy he had initially showed off, replacing it with a logical fervor and dark sheen playing dangerously over his ocular lenses as he ran through PAK memories and tried not to falter at what he saw and what he knew he was going to have to explain sooner or later. He was strange, laying his hands all over Purple's body without a care for what graphic, grisly punishment could come his way and openly defying him despite their rank differences, irritating Purple beyond belief but also thrusting him into a bottomless, interesting pit of unnerving questions he itched to have answered but wasn't sure if he wanted to truly know. Red had mentioned some kind of plot, vehemently screaming during their spat that he didn't want Purple to ruin their chances for…something. How could he ruin whatever Red was talking about if they had only just officially met a little under three hours ago? And what was this dastardly ploy? What did it have to do with him or his position as a consort to the Callnowian regime? He was destined to be a plaything, to give Sen the violet-eyed children she desired to keep her people afloat while keeping his own stuck in deliciously a consistent era of opulent peace and serenity, so Del hoped, and keep them from absolutely annihilating one another on the basis of race and their overdone, eclectic power struggle through the Irken Nebula. He was nothing but a swathe of beautiful freckled skin, a sperm bank for a woman he had no desire of copulating with, and a future Tallest with no real idea of what it meant to rule. But Red, there was something strange with him. He had a voice, had a bizarre determination to move forward and cut through the confusion bouncing between them as he spoke and contemplated, and had an eerie intelligence to his gaze and tone that made Purple shiver.

He was hiding something, and he wanted to know what.

He grabbed at the fringes of his blanket, tugging it further over his battered shoulders and taking a deep, shuddering breath as he slowly came down from his mind-numbing shock and resolute suicide attempt, trying to figure out where to go from here in order to keep himself inundated and sensible enough to hold a functional conversation with the bristling General stewing across the cushions and leaning forward to rest his chin in his palm, wincing painfully at the dig of the plasma shot still healing in his side. He wanted to know what Red meant by 'their shot,' why he had prepared so fervently to protect Purple's image beyond the orders of Del, and why he was so uninterested in the policies around the Flesh Treaty. He knew Red had a duty to bring him to the capitol, but everything about his intentions felt amiss almost as if he had an ulterior motive swimming and clawing just beneath his dark, tanned skin. And, what did he mean when he said 'hunt them down?' No one in their right mind would ever consider Purple as anything other than a trophy husband or a lavender eyed waif dancing through courtyards and dutifully preparing his lavish wife the myriad of traditional Callnowian foods he'd learned to cook to utter perfection in his training.

Who was this guy?

He was uncomfortable, yet infinitely cozy to be next to. He was young, but felt wise beyond his cycles. He was annoyingly immature with his myriad of jokes, but also poised and astute with what he wanted.

"I think we should start over." Red mumbled, slicing through the silence and shaving away some of the build up animosity building up against their collective psyches. "I'm General Styx, but I go by Red. What's your name?"

Purple took a deep, restless inhale, shrinking down in his wooly cocoon and holding back a bit, terrified to begin unraveling cycles of name changing fear and conditioning. "Um…I'm Nemi." He whispered through his fabric prison, speaking so quickly Red almost didn't pick up on the lavish name gracing the air.

"Nemi? Huh. I hate that. It makes you sound like a total snob." Red snorted, flicking his antennae back with a tease of a laugh. "I'm still going to call you Purple, or better yet, Pur. That has a ring to it." He didn't give Purple a chance to protest at the overly condescending rudeness to his voice, clapping his hands together with a resolute beam. "Cool! Now that we're finally back to where we need to be, I wanted to let you know exactly _why_ I'm taking you to the capitol in the first place. You didn't let me finish before and it's not because some tall idiot told me to."

Purple grumbled hotly under his breath at the shaming of his true name. "I told you, I'm not going! I don't wanna-…Wait did you call Del an idiot?" He hissed in terror, folding into himself when Red flippantly shrugged and sunk back into the cushions with a fat yawn.

"Yup. It's because he is. Let's just say him and I go way back, and I don't want our history to repeat itself."

"W-Why?! If anyone ever hears you say that you'll be deactivated! And what history? The Flesh Treaty? This is the first one, you idiot!"

"So? You gonna say anything? Geez, you really need to brush up on your Callnowian history sometime and read between the lines. What and _who_ you find might surprise you."

Purple went to throw out a furious retort, feeling it dissolve over his tongue with a deep frown of disapproval when Red scanned his abrupt silence and laughed warmly.

"That's what I thought." He mused mockingly, grumbling when their fire finally puttered out and left them both in the unnerving, white noise ringing darkness. "I was planning on proposing this to you on your designated refueling stop in between here and Prime Minister Ipi's tower, but things didn't go quite according to plan with those Callnowian rebels blowing us both out of the atmosphere. You see, I've been waiting for an opportunity like you to fall in my lap so I can finally bring an end to what needs to be destroyed so it stops happening once and for all. This is ridiculous, and I can't go on letting Del and Ipi make little deals here and there all for some power play." He paused, hushing Purple through the dense blackness before flicking on his vividly glowing ocular lenses, showing off the blistering, ethereally exquisite elation and defiant ardor swelling up deep in his soul with every word. "You're tough and you've got fire, not to mention the status and opportunities I now lack to undermine everything I think is going to happen."

Purple wasn't following, hastily signaling for his own implants to sputter to life and illuminate the General in dazzling shades of insipid violets gleaming off of his bone structure. "What are you talking about? What needs to be destroyed?" He felt his own fears mounting once more, terrified of the response and letting his jaw go slack in terror when Red blinked and grinned through the shadows.

"You and I are starting a coup."

Purple shot up, chucking his blanket over the back of the loveseat and nearly tripping on the respirator he'd forgotten was at his feet, throwing his hands out in front of him and immediately shutting down Red's jovial excitement with his own perturbed apprehensions. "A coup?! You've gotta be kidding me!" He started pacing through the gloom, trying with all his might to forget what he'd heard so it didn't register in his PAK memories for later data retrieval. "I-I'm not overthrowing the government with you! I don't even know you!"

Red stood too, following Purple's pained gait as he traipsed without direction in a terrified fugue around the perimeter of the bunker. "But I know you! I know all of your aspirations and your dreams, I know that you want to go to that green nebula outside the Meekrob star system, I know that your favorite food is those deep fried donuts the Massive kitchen makes, and I know you hate Del and Ipi more than I do...well...maybe. They've wronged us both, and they deserve to fall and burn in the fires they set! My team and I have been gathering support from rebel factions across Irk and we need your help to-"

"Team?! Now there's _more_ of you?!" Purple groaned in exasperation and ran his good hand up over his disbelieving eyes, feeling wave after wave of anxiety riddled nervousness pinch at every shuddering cell in his body. "This is crazy! If Del gets one wiff of what you're saying, we're both dead!"

Red tried to make eye contact with an irritated grumble to no avail when Purple turned on his heel and brought his claws together to continue his terrified walk in the other direction. "Oh, and that's a problem now? Not even ten minutes ago you were gonna blow your brains all over the wall!" He accused tersely and tightened his jaw when Purple spun to throw a finger in his face when his agitation spiked.

"You're insane! If you think for one second that I'm going up against the whole of the Irken Empire just for you to play revolutionary, you've got another thing coming!" He spat, stalking Red back against the wall and holding his vicious eye contact when he felt his spine prickle with the instinctual need to dominate. "I'm not going to the capitol, and that's the last time I'm gonna say it!"

Red dug his claws into the rust behind him, feeling it come off under his hands as he bared his teeth and tried a different tactic. "You idiot! You've only got two options here! One, you don't go back and you run like you want to do. What reinforcements do you have? You don't even know your way around the cosmos and I doubt you'll get far before Del and his Armada blow you out of the sky. Two, you can come with me to the capitol and let me do what I have to do to keep you and this entire Empire from falling to the ridiculousness of this stupid excuse for a treaty!" He took a deep inhale and continued his assault. "You think you'll ever have peace until Del and Ipi are gone? Do you think any of us will ever have peace until we fix what they're trying to do?"

Purple stopped, deciding to humor Red through his dangerous decisions and trying to make himself appear taller as his internalized need for the very compliance he hated reared its ugly head. "Explain. I want you to stand there and tell me exactly what's going on and what you want from me. Quit being vague and quit demanding things from me that I don't wanna do!" He snapped, bringing the conversation to and end as Red threw his hands in the air with an over animated shout of pure, liquid anger followed by an infuriatingly immature hiss. "Tell me or I walk. You think I'm not afraid to go back out into that snow and try to make it on my own without your deadweight dragging me down? Tell me, _now_!"

Despite the harrowing, overbearingly adamant need Red seemed to have to sway Purple to his still vague projects and interestingly bizarre claims of a political uprising for Irk knows why, he clamped his mouth shut and flicked his antennae forward to pout, shaking his head and breaking eye contact through the dark at the harsh tone radiating from Purple's voice.

"What are you doing?" Purple sneered apathetically as his patience wore thin, letting his eyes trail up to the overly immature glower stamped over the ridiculous officer he was beginning to regret saving. "Geez, do you always act like such a smeet? How the hell did you ever become a General?"

"I'm _not_ a general, you dumbass." Red mumbled in utter frustration, glaring back and catching Purple completely off guard.

Purple swallowed his anger once more, letting his own boiling curiosity take over followed by a sledgehammer of swirling bewilderment. "Irk, would you just tell me from the beginning what's happening? I meet you, you say you've known me for six months, you want to overthrow the government and now you're telling me you're not a general?" He sighed brought a finger to his temple. "Sorry, but either you're crazy or on to something but how can I really know unless you don't tell me?"

Silence.

Red shifted uncomfortably on his feet, letting his sudden outburst flood away like water as he calmed to a simmer and took a few deep breaths in the deafening silence. "I'm an Elite cadet our rebel faction dressed up to look like a general. We made a whole backstory, fabricated the graduation papers and rank updates from Devastis, smelted my ribbons and my rank piece and transferred me to Alpha Company to take over and try to gain Tallest Del's interest." He began, taking a step forward. "At first, we were trying to infiltrate his advisory board to get close enough to Prime Minister Ipi to shoot her during a conference before she can do what we think is coming, but when I was moved to the Massive after commendations and assigned to watch you, I came up with a better plan."

A cadet? He wasn't even a general? Irk, this was all so erroneous and backwards, uprooting the fundamental values of the Irken Empire and it's standing alliances with Callnowia, almost making Purple sick to his stomach at the thought of a sloppy rebel faction attempting to take out a violent, tyrannical Prime Minister such as Ipi and not expecting a revolution to spike.

"W-What's coming? And why do you need me?!" Purple still wasn't understanding completely, feeling the beginning of a horrendous headache take hold of his mind and squeeze, almost sending him into another round of appallingly abusive flashbacks at the very thought of Del finding out about their talks and blasting him between his wide eyes with his ruthless PAK lasers. He shuddered and swallowed, almost choking on his own tongue as Red moved back forward and put a palm on his shoulder, clamping him in his iron grip.

"I need you to marry Sen so we can undermine the Callnowian government. The only way you'll become Tallest is if you go through with Del's idiotic Flesh Treaty. I was hoping you could use this opportunity to help me get close to her and her disgusting mother again so we can kill them before they kill you." Red waited, letting the information sink in before continuing. "I think they started this whole man hunt so Ipi could marry off Sen, kill you, and leave her daughter as ruler of the Empire. Take all this with a grain of salt, I'm not completely sure if that's why, but there's…eh…you'll just have to trust me. There's a lot that will come out in time, but I have to be sure I can trust you first."

Purple clamped his good hand over his mouth, sinking down to the floor as a tidal wave of sickness erupted in the pit of his chest and threatened to bog him down against his will. They…they wanted to assassinate him? He wasn't ever going to be Tallest in the first place? Did Del know? Did anyone know? What if this was a lie? What if the General…no…the cadet was telling him falsehoods in order to gain his trust and ransom him off to the Callnowian Empire like Lire had warned him about? Too many questions; swirling, ebbing, stabbing, piercing, shredding. Too many ramifications. Warfare, bloodstains, asylum, insanity. What if Red was right? What if he married Sen and she truly was only out for the Irken Empire and their territory? How the hell did Red know all of this?

Why?

How?

When?

Red knelt down in front of him, digging his knees into the frozen metal and again taking him by the shoulder, this time with a bit less force and a soft, understanding voice. "I know everyone is asking you to do things for the good of the Empire, and I know you just officially met me, but you have to trust me when I say I've planned this out and big things are coming if we don't do this. I've had this plan in the works for over six months, and I swear on every fiber of what I am that it's gonna work. I've been around Sen and Ipi enough in the past to know what they like and you fit the bill perfectly where some of us have...well have lacked. I promise, once this whole mess is said and done and we resolve the…well the _issue_ that's happening with Ipi and Sen, I'll take you wherever you want to go. If you don't want to stay Tallest, fine. If you don't want to even stay on Irk, fine." He thought a moment before lighting up. "There's an Irken outpost in the center of that green nebula you like where a group of scientists are running tests on the chemical makeup of the cloud. Maybe…you could go there."

Purple let his hand fall away, snapping his gaze back up to the astoundingly influential, optimistic crimson digging into the very heart of who he was and what he wanted most to use it against him in all the right ways. But, he had to admit, Red did have a point. He would never be truly free as long as Ipi and Sen stood on their own four feet, leaving them to perpetually breathe down the back of his neck as Tallest and have their exotic, foreign fingers in every single proclamation and policy he tried to make, would take a cut of ever swathe of land he claimed, and would have extensive weaponry at their disposal that their snow suffocated planet couldn't seem to produce. Oh Irk. The weaponry.

"Red, how do you know all of this?" He breathed, pushing up and struggling to rationalize all of the information clamping down on his throbbing brain. "You know way too much about all of this to be just a cadet. First you're not a general, but I'm not even sure you're a cadet. How can I trust you if I don't know what you are?"

Red followed, pulling away the fabricated, heavy ribbon bar over his chest and chucking it to the side when a spark of sincere charm flashed gorgeously in his lurid eyes. "You'll just have to find it in that mind to follow. I can't convince you, only you can convince yourself and choose what you feel is right."

Purple grimaced, carefully considering Red's proposal and finding a bit of comfort in what he was offering. He was going to die either way, but this…this gave him a chance. He could use Red and whatever rebel faction he had beneath his belt to completely overhaul his life. Or…or he could use him to get to a ship and out of this place. Purple swallowed, watching the blistering enthusiasm grinning back at him before sighing and shaking his head in overwhelmed defeat.

"You…you'll really take me to the nebula if I do this? Do I have your word?"

Red nodded wildly and grabbed for his hand, forcing him to shake on it before pulling away and stretching. "Yeah, yeah, of course!" He stopped when the reassuring boom of heavy thrusters sounded above ground, throwing his head back with a victory shout when he recognized the sound. "Yes! That sounds like a Shuuver!"

Purple stumbled to follow along when Red tore off and hastily went for the ladder, latching onto it and quickly scaling the chilly rungs to the top to begin work on Purple's sloppy welding job. "Wait, Del's personal team doesn't fly Shuuver." He said slowly, shrinking back when Red shouted once more and slammed the hatch open, forcing a blast of ice cold wind to grip at their cheeks and immediately freeze them both to the bone as teeth chattered and eager boots climbed over metal.

"I know!" Red exclaimed, reaching back down through the snow and grabbing for Purple's hand to hoist him up before turning and throwing his hands on his hips to admire the gargantuan, deep red paintjob of the gorgeous Shuuver staring back at them from afar as it threw out its formidable landing gear and knocked aside stiff trees to form a makeshift clearing. "It's my team!"

"Your…team?"

"Yeah! Come on, we've got a capitol to get you to!"

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Okie dokie! Hope you liked this chapter and we're going into a revolution! But…why? What does Callnowia want with Irk's military? Spooky!

THERE'S LOTS OF SECRETS THAT ARE GOING TO PAVE THE WAY FOR THE WHOLE FIC IN THIS CHAPTER. SEE IF YOU CAN CATCH THEM ALL!

ANNOUNCEMENT: THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE LIVE ON MONDAY 1/13/2020 AT 12:00 PM (NOON) CDT (UTC -5) BECAUSE I NEED SOME MORE TIME TO FLESH OUT THE CHAPTER AND MAKE IT EXTRA DARK AND SPOOKY! I HOPE THAT I SEE YOU GUYS THEN AND I HOPE THAT YOU UNDERSTAND! I NEVER WANT TO POST SUB PAR CONTENT, AND WANT TO MAKE SURE IT IS THE BEST I CAN OFFER! LOVE YOU!


	4. Lavender Fire

Welcome back lovelies! I'm so excited that we have had such a wonderful reception to this fic, and I hope you continue to enjoy what I've written for you! This chapter will be….dark. Very dark. We are taking more of a look into the erroneous past of Red, so see if you can figure out who he REALLY is. All will make sense in time! Thank you so much for your support, and I really hope you enjoy this chapter! Thank you angels!

**Chapter rated strong M for obvious allusions to physical/emotional/sexual abuse, graphic depictions of medical procedures/blood/gore, obvious allusions to PTSD, obvious allusions to depression, brief heavy language, perilous situations, and general adult content.**

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**Three cycles in the recent past**

"Sir, are you sure this is exactly what you desire?"

Red dug his long, chipped claws into his grimy restraints and tried to swallow against the scratchy, almost unbearable dryness in his throat. He could hardly see beyond the blinding yellow light of the Vortian doctor's headlamp as he stalked delicately around the sterile, astringent reeking procedure table and poked and prodded him with gloved hands and various tools, evaluating him completely from the tips of his sensitive, blistered toes to the feathered ends of his raw, wind whipped antennae shivering in the freezing temperature of the backwater facility he had fought his way to. Unish, the dead moon off of Moo-Ping 10, was shrouded in unending darkness, a strange, disconcerting landscape of cavernous, pitted craters and red light districts filled to the brim with rampant prostitution and drug cartels fighting for scraps of food and coveted territory. Red had brawled violently, struggled his way through the ice-encrusted, rolling hills of bucolic Callnowia to find his way off of the disturbing mess of a nightmare he had been trapped in for cycles upon cycles and make his way with a group of other fortunate escapees to the only man in their immediate star system who would glance in their direction.

It was so low asking another species for help, but it was their best bet to rid themselves of the nightmare the secret Irken-Callnowian agreements had become.

Rumors of an unnamed Vortian doctor had been circulated on hushed, lilting whispers through slave halls and breeding chambers, bouncing about under the radar of Callnowian guards to land against Red's antennae from where he lay hooked up to various medical equipment and felt his very life force draining away under his translucent skin as expensive tubes and wires sucked on his PAK and biological body like an undying parasite. The others in his collection pod had hissed tentatively amongst one another in the dastardly low light of their cramped prison, formulating a plan for weeks to rip their hardware from their bodies and slog out into the snow to their freedom, finally completing what they were all destined for when they ruthlessly tore their feeding tubes away and shattered the skulls of the encroaching guard with safety harnesses and feeding hookups. It was disgusting, a mess of blood and oozing liquid life pooling against floors as alarm bells sounded and others were scooped back up against their will and taken away to Irk knows where as Red and his men screamed and dodged blistering plasma fire whizzing through the air and tainting the lack of peace to turn it into something far worse and much more terrifying. All he could remember were the shouts of languid Callnowian shrieking and barking horrific profanities and threats behind him as he sprinted until his lungs nearly popped, breaking free and fighting his way into the snow with two others before they were able to use their meager skills to hijack a tiny, rusted out Callnowian Stinger and jet away from the planet for good.

Tears.

Agonizing cries.

Terror filled shivers raking down trembling spines and rebounding up PAKs.

They had made it alive, but thousands others still lay trapped, frozen in their own sweat and excruciating torture as their life force was used to fulfill that of millions of others and their DNA was altered to the point that it became an unrecognizable, erroneous strip of code and digits no one dared touch for fear they would be molecularly destroyed themselves. They were farmed for their eye color, farmed like Hogulus for slaughter and kept miles underground in facilities that not even the ignorant public of Irk knew about as the war around them raged and territories were claimed for either side in the midst of the chaos, forgotten souls sold on the black market to keep the peace and kept for their prized, scrumptious genes only they carried. But Red, oh, Red…he was marked for transport before his daring escape mission. He was pegged to be the consort to Sen, the beautiful, incredibly tall daughter of Prime Minister Ipi herself, hand selected for his gorgeous body and hungrily desired for the fire in his soul and sharp tongue needed to eventually rule their collective Empires when peace was established. He had been thrust into the political world, meeting with Sen several times as she laughed sweetly at his innocent jokes he was told by his guard to tell and staring up into her deep grey skin and five unblinking eyes when she asked him for his name. What's in a name anyway? Did it matter? Did it hold any clout in a world as dissecting and distressing as this? She had remarked on his beauty, on the richness of his eye color and the allure of his incredibly attractive height as she laid her hands on his body and serenely took him in her bed chambers when he was at his weakest and was unable to fight back, sucking the last shred of carefully shrouded dignity from the pit of his long-since tormented thin psyche. He hadn't wanted it, putting out because he was told to for the sake of Sen's own important political life as the dastardly Empire he had grown to despise more than anything in this life crushed every moral fiber of righteousness in his spooch, mangled his better judgement as he lay beneath a giggling woman he had no desire of feeling when her claws traced his chest and she fell asleep to his pulse. He now knew her terrifyingly intimately, and wrecked him like a wayward ship for any drop of respect he had left for Tallest Del for giving him and thousands others up to the suffocating clutches none of them deserved to serve without faith. He was supposed to marry her, exchanging tiny unsolicited kisses as he tried not to scream and was fitted with the crisp coattails of traditional Callnowian dress for his wedding day that would fortunately never come to fruition when he slipped away, breaking free his two friends and mounting the most harrowing, menacing escape mission he had ever encountered in his young, forgotten life.

They were trash.

They were animals.

They were expendable.

It had taken days, many awful, dehydrating, starving days before they landed on Unish and were greeted with nothing but the nauseating stench of blackened coals and pheromones leaking up from dirty, pathetic brothels, making their way through the tidal waves of sticky sin and lighthearted murder to the rusted back door of the Vortian doctor they had all hoped would be alive in his old age and screaming out their tear-filled victory cries when the ancient, powerful man opened his hatch and pulled them all inside, eager for an opportunity to work on such beautiful flesh and dig his twitching, inquisitive claws into the very heart of Irken DNA processing and retrieval. The three of them had been separated, each moved to their own room and stripped for evaluations when they begged and fervently pleaded with the false doctor to take away the one thing that made them all horrendously unique; their glittering eye color.

They were beautiful, so unbearably beautiful and prized by Callnowia beyond the wildest nightmares of ruby eyed Irkens dotting the peaceful countryside of their home planet while great injustices were committed under their unsuspecting, oblivious antennae. Del kept them in the dark, focusing on reporting the war and the grisly death toll from either side instead of showing his true, disturbingly dark nature happening in the deep reaches of his private office away from curious eyes and the snooping notepads of the press. No one knew just how far he had gone to get exactly what he wanted, or what that something even was, how many silent talks he had shared with Prime Minister Ipi during the heat of their supposed war used as a coverup for the single most massive joint kidnapping spree in the history of their star system, or how ruthless he had been to maintain his bloodcurdling secrets with a sweet smile and impressive approval rating. The general public ate up his soft, charming tone and wafting syllables of poised grace and fictitious compassion to their collective plights, promising that if they behaved and stayed in line like the petrifying, mindless drones they all were deep down at the core, that he would gift them with a health and life beyond what they could ever hope for. Red still didn't know what that meant, or why it was important, but something was undoubtedly being extracted from violet-eyed DNA.

The decrepit Vortian doctor had thought, toiled, ran his shaky touch over textbooks and mixed up serums as the three munched on stale cookies in silence and gained some semblance of their overlooked, stolen strength back from within the walls of his quack medical facility and tried with all their might to see through the encroaching darkness the moon was perpetually blanketed in. The gloom was familiar to Red, a welcome friend hiding away the rational world from his exhausted sight and giving him some semblance of a reprieve from the dastardly, chilling reality of the past he was determined to put an end to. Sen had been right when she had chosen him as her personal source of living, breathing medicine and her constant string of perfect DNA; he had fire. He had the raging inferno of thousands of trapped souls blazing and coiling within his spooch to set alight a need for anarchy before diplomacy, for intimidation before international relations, and alarmingly accurate plotting behind the authoritarian back of the Tallest he had once served so passionately as a cadet in the Elite. Never again…never again would he trust another soul beyond those he had been tasked with caring for, one grouchy woman with a power complex and one short idiot with a need to please. They were a family, no, closer than blood and bonded as one through the harshness of the Callnowian snow to finally make the frightening decision to hide in plain sight for the coming revolution and chemically change their eyes beyond recognition.

Sen would chose another consort, there was no doubt in Red's mind about that, but it would never be him. He had formed a dubious, unstable ploy to infiltrate Del's personal cabinet disguised as another and under a newer, better name to swallow down whole globs of information and hopefully put a stop to this cycle of madness. Not only did Del need to die before more lives were lost to the frozen wasteland they were all fighting, but Ipi and Sen had to be strung up by noose in the square of their own capitol, a reminder to never mess with the true heart of what it meant to be an Irken scorned.

Red was that man.

Red was scorned and scarred across his soul for no one to see but everyone to fear.

He was redemption, he was agony manifested, he was the _revolution_.

"Styx, was it? I asked you a question. Are you sure this is what you want?" The gruff, gravely voice piped up beside him once more, breaking him out of his reeling, cycling thoughts and blinding him once more with the light of a menacing headlamp piercing the blackness. "This is quite the procedure, and if you go through with this, you may be permanently blind. I cannot guarantee-"

"Call me Red." He responded plainly, wincing at the cruel but utterly necessary restraints holding back his wrists and ankles and almost crushing his lungs through his tattered wedding suit. He would need them for the pain, need them for the agony to come so he didn't claw out his own eyes in his fit of excruciating torment. "I explained before that my team and I have no choice in the matter. In order to bring down the regime and whatever the hell they're planning, we have to hide in plain sight."

The Vortian sighed long and low, his horns twitching aimlessly in the gloom as he finally lowered Red's gleaming procedure table back and hiked him down to a manageable level as his needle-like feet clicked against the chilly floor and knocked aside stray papers and books. "Ah, my young boy, you have your whole life to live. Why do you seek to destroy the very thing that makes you beautiful?" He shrunk back when Red shot up against his restraints at the unwarranted comment, shooting daggers into the very heart and soul of the unsure physician holding his liquid key to victory.

"Quit saying that word! Beautiful!" He spat callously, startling even himself at the burning, gut-wrenching tone flooding past his all-too experienced lips. "Scar me! Hurt me! Change this stupid eye color red so I can be on my way and finish what I haven't even started yet! They maim, they torture, they take the innocence of thousands of purple eyed Irkens and you want to talk to me about beauty?! Beauty is pain and I've experienced a lot of it, so this is nothing!"

The Vortian froze, refusing to move forward as Red slumped back and blinked his terrified lavender eyes through the swirling darkness, feeling the same hollow numbness creep up in his chest when he remembered all of the awfully menacing, bone chilling things he had been forced to endure all because of his DNA and attractiveness. He knew he couldn't change the biological construct of what he was, or what he could be used for, but he could permanently hide it from view for no one to ever know.

He was taking control of who he was, and no one was going to stop him.

The Vortian ran a stiff set of fingers over the back of his wrinkled neck as he tapped a petite foot incessantly and wavered, biting his lip with sharp, serrated teeth and glancing back to the syringe treatment clutched in his faltering hands. "I have finished with your other friends," he began in accented Irken, "and one of them chose not to endure the enhancement. She was afraid, listening to the screams of the other one as he writhed and passed out from the fire in his skull. Is this what you want? To hurt for the rest of your days? To destroy your eyesight and commit yourself to a life full of reoccurring migraines and dizziness? You signed my waver, yes, but I'm not sure someone as young and inexperienced as you really knows what they want."

Red strained against his restrictive leather, gritting his teeth and flicking his quivering antennae back from the pleading undertone trying to get him to see some semblance of reason he just couldn't continue to take. He was tired…so very tired and scared, wanting nothing more than to return to the beautiful countryside of Irk to work a normal civilian job as a cadet before he retired with commendations and existed comfortably on a pension. He knew that would never come, swallowing back his tears and taking a deep, shuddering breath before nodding to himself and speaking once more with a cracking tone feeble enough to break the resolve of any saint.

"Please, you have to do this for me. My friend chose to stay this way, but I can't. I-I can't. I have to work my way into Tallest Del's cabinet and pose as a General, and he can't recognize me. If he does, there may never be another opportunity for one of us to escape and make it out of there alive to stop this hideous cycle!" A single tear rolled down his bloodstained cheek, cutting through the grime and filth and showing the war-torn man underneath. "Change me, please. Free me from having to return to something I never want to be again. Migraines, dizziness, all of it is better then the hell that I have been forced to see."

The doctor still didn't seem sure, moving forward at a snail's pace and leaning down to take Red by the eyelid, holding his once gorgeous, profoundly rich violet eyes open as he clenched his teeth and whimpered at the sight of an unforgiving, oncoming needle ready to slam down into his retina and bleach away who he used to be to give him who he knew he was.

He was redemption.

He was the reaper waiting on the sidelines counting his souls.

He was the shockwave that would ruin the Irken Empire and save all that he held dear.

He was Red.

* * *

**The cold, harsh present; the surface of rural Callnowia**

"Come on, let's go. They don't like to be kept waiting and we can't have anyone out here looking for you." Red explained hastily, reaching down and taking Purple by his shivering wrist before helping him gingerly through the night to ensure he didn't trip on ice encrusted boulders or tree roots. He smiled back as Purple stared in awe up at the glorious work of undoubtedly stolen Irken engineering, listening to the steamy hiss of the hatch lowering before shrinking back in shock to the booming, authoritarian voice screeching back at him over the wind.

"You absolute idiot! How could you go and get yourself shot down?! Do you have any idea how scared we were for the sanctity of the mission?!"

Red let go of Purple's hand and threw his up in front of his face when a slim, petite, lavender eyed woman appeared at the top of the hatch steps, stalking down and rolling up her sleeves as she balled her furious fingers into fists and came after him with more zeal and force than Purple had been expecting, landing a harsh punch to the side of Red's face and knocking him back into the snow.

"Ow! What the hell was t-that for?!"

"For you almost ruining everything we've worked for!"

"Hey! Y-You!" Purple began, feeling his breath stall when the woman turned her sights on him and softened a bit, looking him head to toe in utter disgust before turning back to where Red spat a mouthful of bright pink blood to the previously untainted snow with a pained groan. "Don't hit him, he's been shot and…it's not fair!"

Red glanced up from where he had propped himself up on all fours, trying desperately to signal Purple with his crimson gaze to keep quiet before enrolling his eyes when the pilot stomped forward, kicking up tiny ice crystals as she went and throwing a finger up in his face to almost demand respect from his shivering form.

"You have no say in how we run our operation! You're our pawn and I'm your superior." She spat forbiddingly, antennae going stiff and eyeing Red dangerously when he finally pushed himself up to his feet and nearly collapsed once more from the force of the collision. "If you're going to be part of Lavender Fire you need to learn some ground rules. Number one-"

Purple cut her off on accident, blurting out his own curiosity and blinking when Red moved to position himself inbetween the two. "Lavender Fire? What's that?" He asked slowly, peeking around Red's shoulder plate and frowning when the woman's strident stare bounced between the two.

She brought her gloved fingers to her temples, turning on her heel and stalking back towards the retrofitted, whirring ship as she groaned. "You didn't tell him, did you?" She mumbled under her breath, happy when Red reached out and slung an arm around Purple's shoulders on impulse to lead him away from the snow. "Irk, Red, you're the biggest blunder of a rebel in the entire Universe!"

Purple brushed him off, batting away his hand and racing after the little spitfire as she ascended the perforated steps and made her way into the technologically advanced belly of the ship she had learned to call home long ago. "Tell me what?" He was almost begging at this point, irritated that even more secrets were being kept and unsure how long it would take for him to finally break free from the annoying, wholly infuriating darkness he was being kept in. "Someone tell me what's going on! You can't just keep me in the dark like I'm not even here!"

The woman weaved her way around stale snack boxes and empty soda bottles, kicking aside trash as she went before throwing herself down in the near destroyed, well-loved leather of the pilot's seat, spinning to scrutinize him from the cockpit as Red struggled to pull the hatch closed.

"Where's Skoodge? He didn't get picked off in the fight, did he?" He asked, glancing around and yelping in sudden fright when a tiny face popped out from behind a radiator with a wide, overdone beam, setting aside tools and taking a sip of the bubbly sweetness clutched in his free hand.

"Nope! I'm still here too! Glad you didn't die, Red!" Skoodge praised almost too sincerely, catching sight of the tentative mess hovering behind him and giving an inquisitive whistle. "Wow! You really are as pretty as they say!" He bounded forward, setting his drink precariously to the side and nearly kicking it over in the process to get a better look at where Purple shifted nervously on his sore feet. "Welcome to Lavender Fire! I'm Skoodge; I run the repairs around here and that," he gestured to the fuming ball of pure hatred in the pilot's seat, "is our pilot Tak. Don't let her scare you. When she warms up, you'll see how cool she really is on the inside, but she'll be pretty icy until then!"

Purple felt a the beginning glow of a small smile form on his face, holding it back when Tak audibly sneered and turned back to the controls, flipping the ignition and bringing the shuddering ship back online as they choppily ascended and were met with gale force winds clipping at their thrusters and rocking their equipment in a nauseating, daunting sway that had Purple nearly falling from his already precarious balance. He lurched forward with a cry, grabbing hold of Red's PAK on impulse as Tak's unsteady flying nearly brought them back down into the towering canopy as she let loose a string of nonsensical curses and risqué profanities much to Skoodge's delight, glancing over her shoulder with a hot hiss that had him playfully rolling his eyes and scooping up his almost spilled soda to return to his tedious work fixing an internal wiring issue with his hands. Finally, Tak was able to jet them up past the horrendous wind and break the surface tension of the stratosphere, guiding them high above the blanket of clouds below as she carelessly threw her feet up on the dash and lazily pulled them on for the near two hour trek they would still need to make in order to make it to the nauseating opulence of the Callnowian capitol.

After they were stable and on their way, Red kicked at the bottom of Skoodge's rubber work boot and gave a fat yawn. "Hey, I'm gonna go brief the new guy in the back. He knows the basic stuff, but I want to make sure he really understands what he's getting into before we make it to the capitol. Watch her for me." He nodded warily back to where Tak had slung on a headset to drown out the voices around her.

Skoodge looked back up and raked his soot covered gloves down his front, staining his once perfect uniform with his hard work and inherent messiness. "Yeah sure! I'll make sure she doesn't come beat you up again." He snickered, immediately letting it fade when Red bore down on him with his famous stare and grumbled something under his breath that Purple didn't quite catch but found hilarious regardless, laughing a bit for the first time in a long while and startling himself to how good it felt as Red grabbed him by his good wrist and tugged him along towards the back corridor of their gargantuan rebel flagship.

They meandered down a single hallway, passing rooms filled with supplies and assault weapons and tripping over piles of unused clothing and pillaged snack boxes, Red bending to dig through a half eaten mound of individually wrapped chocolate cakes, offering one of the questionable pastries up to Purple who declined at the strange smell pouring from within the plastic and shuddering when Red shrugged and popped the whole thing in his mouth despite the risky stench.

"That's disgusting. How can you eat stuff like that without, I dunno, literally dying?" He was only half joking, amused once more when Red struggled to swallow and hacked on something hard and unanticipated, patting himself on the chest and flying down to grip at his still healing gunshot to the side as he heaved. "See? All that stale food is going to be the death of your whole operation. How would it look if Irken history books find out about your little venture here and smeets learn that their great, powerful leader was assassinated by a snack cake?" He teased viciously with a fat grin when Red held up a finger and took a deep breath to collect himself, trying not to chuckle as choked.

"I…S-Shut up, it just went down the wrong way!" He wheezed, ducking around a drying bedsheet strung up over the hallway and fluttering back to smack Purple square in the face in all of its warm, moist goodness.

Purple rolled his eyes and brushed the intrusion aside with another giggle, feeling utterly bizarre with the amount of relaxing fun he was taking with Red's immature antics. They hadn't known each other more than a few hours and here he was, in the middle of a rebel ship surrounded by cycles of old trash and sugary foods, laughing at his childish ways like they had known each other for cycles. It felt good to laugh, warming Purple down to his toes as he continued the length of the hallway and stopped dead in his tracks to double over and let go of all the risky, delightful emotions he wasn't allowed to have in the presence of Lire or his esteemed Tallest, feeling the beauty of gorgeous, fleeting happiness fill him up and make him whole for a few seconds.

For a few seconds he had forgotten who he was; no pain, no terror, no heartache. Just the sound of his new colleague sputtering on long since expired chocolate and gritty frosting he had been too reckless to chew. Disgusting…but hilarious.

"What are you, a smeet? You're not supposed to inhale your food, idiot." He played cheerfully, glancing side to side in abrupt confusion when he noticed Red had all but disappeared, almost jumping out of his skin when his coy voice called out to him from above and extended a strong hand down from a ceiling hatch, peeking out with a gorgeous excitement shining back in his profound eyes that immediately lit the spark of inquisitiveness inside Purple's agile mind.

"Come on, this is my quarters." He grabbed hold of Purple's good wrist and heaved when he cautiously offered it up, happy when he threw out his PAK legs and helped him struggle along to hoist him through the tiny port before falling back against an old, dusty carpet he had stolen from a bazaar several months earlier. "I know it's not much, but I've lived here for almost three cycles now, so it's home."

Purple coughed at the filthy cloud of dust springing up to meet him from Red's untidy living space, pushing up to his knees and glancing back down to admire the absolutely beautiful Plookesian textile he was sitting on. He reached down and ran his claws through the shaggy fur, observing in awestruck fascination the sheer volume of items his savior had collected in his time spent in the petite storage unit. He'd hoarded everything from shiny wrappers and exotic coins littering chipped end tables and organized by hue and condition to stacks of thick, colorful books in an array of different languages, a small desk tucked away in the corner with dozens of cheap gold chains and faux costume jewelry set aside in pans to pawn off for a quick buck. There was hardly any light, a single mattress slung haphazardly through a stack of old newspapers and torn clippings of Del plastered to the pitted metal of the rusted walls as a reminder for something Purple didn't quite understand. He watched as Red rummaged about, trying to clear a path through his unbearable sea of knickknacks and stolen goods before throwing his arms wide with a proud, cocky grin and falling back into the smooth embrace of his mattress cradling up to greet him over the gentle, rhythmic hum of hot thrusters soothing him into submission.

"So, what do you think? Nice right?"

Purple couldn't tell if Red was serious or joking, spinning suddenly on his heel when his new friend sat up and tugged on what remained of his respirator, peeling it away from his chest and tossing it to the already gargantuan piles of filth surrounding them before he set to work tugging off his Elite undershirt with a hiss when the stiff material brushed over his gently weeping wound. Purple could smell it, his antennae shuddering back into the scent of antiseptic when Red popped a bottle of hospital grade alcohol and dipped his fingers inside to smear the stinging, painful liquid over his gunshot as he gritted his teeth.

"W-what are you waiting for?" He asked through his pained smile at the searing, mind-numbing sting rocketing up through his spooch at the contact. "Come sit down so I can brief you on who we are. I know you're still confused, and I'm honestly sorry about that, but I had to wait until I knew we would be completely safe." He recapped the searing liquid and set it aside, falling back once more with a sigh at the glorious warmth of home he had missed terribly in his travels.

Purple took a deep breath, feeling his nerves spike when he turned and avoided eye contact, trying not to look too closely at the grisly shot in his friend's side and swallowing thickly to the stench of metallic blood invading his senses in the worst of ways. "Um…I'm good here. Just tell me what you-"

Red didn't give him a choice, patting the spot next to him and laughing when Purple's uncomfortable frown turned into a deep set scowl of disapproval and he closed his eyes before crossing his arms hotly over his chest and wincing at the slowly healing break in his wrist. "Come on, I don't bite." He thought back to their short time in the underground bunker with a nervous smile. "Well…When I came to I guess I did. But I didn't mean to! I promise, you'll be more comfortable here." He tried to steal a glimpse at Purple's wrist when he peeked and immediately turned away once more, nauseated by the sheer amount of blood oozing from Red's wound as he hunted around the side of the mattress for an unused bandage. "Man, you're a wuss. Who would have known?"

Purple tried not to retch into the scent, scrunching up his face when he heard the telltale sound of a bandage being torn free from its sterile packaging before listening to the low, relieved voice sighing through the dark and shifting slightly over the box spring. "Are you always this nasty?" He asked with genuine animosity, feeling his amusement fade completely and wanting nothing more than to leave and return to the haughty woman and stout ugly thing below them. "How…how does that not hurt?"

Red shrugged, distracted completely and intrigued by the strange amount of innocence still somehow left in Purple's mind as he looked him leisurely head to toe and blinked, cursing to himself to behave civilly before grabbing for a single, burn laden tshirt and tossing it in his direction to looking away completely. "It still hurts, I'm just used to it I guess. Let's just say I've had a lot of practice with stuff like this." He ran a free hand up over his scar coated chest when Purple finally opened his eyes and cocked his head, stooping to retrieve the deep cerulean, oversized shirt from his feet. "Why don't you put that on while I talk? Your disguise is wet and it'll chafe if you're not careful."

Purple shot him a look of complacent defiance, pinching the fabric between his fingers and scenting it with his antennae before drawing back with a look of utter repulsion at the strange mix of deep cologne and sweat clinging to the tattered fabric. "Ew! When was the last time you washed this thing?" He complained with a high pitched whine. "I'm _not_ wearing this!"

"Ok, princess. You wanna sit and freeze? Fine by me."

"Hey! I-I'm not a princess! I just have standards and I don't wanna be running around covered in another man's sweat! Irk, it even feels gross!"

"It's my workout shirt."

"You're absolutely disgusting, you know that?"

"Yeah, yeah. Quit wasting time and pick one already so I can tell you what my plan is. I actually want and need you on my team for this to work, and I'm not letting you go in there by yourself without any background. I'm not _that_ heartless."

Purple stomped lightly on the dingy floor, staring back when Red clicked on a powerful flashlight with a childish smile and flashed it in his direction, momentarily blinding him to the world and only causing his already irritated fury to deepen as he watched the crimson-eyed menace set his light up on his end table and sling his arms behind his head with an overly entertained chuckle. The bastard was enjoying this? Purple had spent two cycles of his young life being ordered around by people he had absolutely no interest in and now this conceited piece of work thought he could waltz into his life from the sidelines and continue to order him around?! Ugh! Purple turned back around and stared down at the holed fabric dripping from his fingers, suddenly becoming unbearably aware of the scratchy canvas of his false uniform clinging to his body from the snow and causing him a great deal of bitter discomfort. How long had he been shivering? Had Red noticed?

Perfect. Just perfect.

Purple rolled his eyes in defeat and let a deep, guttural growl bubble up in the back of his throat as he gingerly laid his half-nude colleague's shirt aside and set to work peeling off his blood soaked layers, involuntarily trembling when the cool air of the room hit his skin and chilled him to the bone. He set to work on his belt, becoming painfully conscious of the set of uninterested eyes watching him from behind as he stripped and setting him back into the traumatic, vicious feeling of Lire doing the same, running his old, disgusting gaze over the length of Purple's form before he would move forward and prod at places he claimed he needed to ruthlessly evaluated for purity tests, never going far enough to break the stipulations of his contract but dipping his callous fingers inside his flesh just enough for him to never forget the feeling as he was forced to stay still and take whatever he was given. The touch of disgustingly careful claws delving deep inside him from behind gloves to mask the evidence and preserve his already shattered incorruptibility and virtue, the sweltering lips brushing over his shivering freckled shoulders, the slimy tongue tasting places that made Purple want to break down and cry. Still, his virginity remained intact though his sensibility and sanity wore thin. Lire had threatened him, told him he would report his dastardly "sexual exploits" to Tallest Del should he decide to say anything or refuse to moan his name when he asked, effectively blackmailing him into a downward spiral of self-loathing and unhinged shame. It was a grotesque weekly ritual they had come to be engaged in, Purple lying back in his bed and splaying his protected virginity with his trembling fingers for show as his advisor released a few inches above his legs onto his heat and…no. No. No. No. Never again. He could almost hear Lire's words echoing in his mind, every salacious pet name he called him in private, every fleeting glance the others noticed but didn't care enough about to put a stop to. He was almost sure the rest of the crew thought he wanted it, that he was a sex-starved, hormone raging cadet with a need for whatever he could latch his claws into and making every bone in his body heavy like concrete as he passed the snickers and whispers on his way back from Lire's quarters to his own just down the hallway on the Massive.

_As long as you're still here, I own you._

_Be a good boy, sweetie, and show me what's beneath those robes._

_I know you like my fingers. I can see it on your face._

_Beautiful…you're beautiful._

Beautiful. The word had become synonymous with erroneous, wrong, sickening, vile. It was everything wrong with the universe, everything that trampled the dreams of the fractured and forgotten. Every time he heard it ring like a bell through his memories, he wanted to vomit. Purple felt his breathing escalate as his pulse skipped a beat and a sudden wave of nauseated sickness washed over him, shorting out his mind and setting him back into a fugue state as the world danced in teasingly appalling slow motion and the hot, gooey feeling of another man using his soft body was almost palpable in his broken, distraught recollections.

No. He couldn't go back to that.

No…no. _No_! Wait…he had to calm down. Yeah. Calm down! This was a different time and a different place with a different individual. Red didn't seem to have any interest in his body for such uses; in fact, he had been nothing but kind to him since they had met. Sure, he was rough around the edges and a bit troubled with his own appalling demons laughing in his antennae and waiting for him to fail like everyone else, but he had the decency to give Purple space when it was due. He was safe. Yes…he was safe here. Lire was dead, Del was billions of miles away, and he had some time to think before he was expected to perform his stage act in Ipi's mansion. He had time.

He had time.

Purple quickly reached for Red's old shirt, throwing it on and clamping his knees together as he froze and exhaled in sheer relief, happy that it was long enough to cover him completely. He took another deep, uneven breath as Red waited patiently behind him, watching and somehow picking up on the shift in the atmosphere as he attempted to break the tension but only made it worse.

"That guy that I always saw you with…Lire." He swallowed and grew incredibly uneasy when he noticed Purple visibly flinch at the mention of his name. "He didn't…um…_touch_ you, did he?"

That did it. Purple couldn't help himself at the awful question, a flow of scalding tears flooding down his raw, wind-whipped cheeks as he clamped his good hand over his mouth and sobbed. He tried to stay upright on his feet as he bawled out his trauma, listening to the sound of Red gradually standing and moving across the littered floor to brush a gentle, comfortingly tentative touch over the smooth metal of his PAK to show him to the light through his crushing lonliness. He tried to collect himself, surprised by the tenderness he was met with and internally scolding himself for thinking he would be met with anything different.

"I-I'm sorry! Ever since you've met me all I've done is cry!"

"What? Hey, don't be sorry for that. I won't judge you for wanting to cry when you've been through so much."

"I…I don't wanna talk about it. Just let it go and let me forget for a while before it comes back to haunt me again."

"I'm sorry, I know you pain, and I'm sorry I didn't step in sooner. I couldn't risk getting you killed by stepping in, but as long as I'm around you'll never have to give yourself up like that again." He whispered, apprehensively wrapping his arms around Purple's waist as he cried and pulling him into a stiff, unsure embrace from behind. "You're part of Lavender Fire now. That's who we are. Every single one of us has been through exactly what you have all because of our eye color."

Purple sniffed, spinning in Red's hold and reaching up to hug him back before shaking his head and humming nervously under his breath, pushing him away and thankful that he got the point and hung back to explain from a distance. "I-I don't…what do you mean you've been through what I have? You have red eyes."

"I didn't always before I escaped. I used to look a lot like you, actually." Red chuckled but there was no warmth to the sound as Purple's eyes snapped up to meet his through his bleary cognition. "I told you in the bunker that I knew Del, and I did. I was selected by his team to be moved to Callnowia with thousands of others with our eye color. We were put in a holding facility where our DNA was stripped through PAK equipment and taken…somewhere. I'm not sure why, but they're torturing Irkens like you and I purely for the color. I don't know if they hate it, or if Del hates it, but he keeps sending us away to this stupid facility while they take the lives of thousands for their project."

Purple couldn't believe what he was hearing, wiping his salty eyes on the back of his hand as Red reached out and took him gingerly by the wrist once more, leading him carefully on through the filth and his own overpowering desolation to the mattress where he slowly helped lower him down on the edge. Purple kept his knees screwed shut out of habit, watching as Red threw aside trash and hunted for something in particular while he spoke his damming truth.

"I was chosen for my height and beauty to be the original consort to Sen. They called me her personal supply of DNA, but I never got far enough into the regime to figure out what the hell they're doing with all of it. It's wrong, Purple, so wrong on so many levels and our Tallest is letting this…this…carnage happen." He paused, plucking free a clean towel before striding briskly back and kneeling despite the sting in his side to wipe away the rolling wretchedness cascading down Purple's face. "I was set to marry her but I stole money from her account and bribed a guard to let me slip away before I was scheduled to walk the aisle. That's where I met Tak and Skoodge; we were all cell mates together and I promised them that I would always keep them safe. We made it out and hijacked a ship to take it to a moon off of Moo-Ping 10 where I went through a color procedure to permanently change my eyes to this. Skoodge had it done too, but Tak refused. I think she was just too much of a smeet to deal with the pain!" He grinned and immediately let it fade when Purple stared back in terrified shock. "Look, it's horrific, I get that, but you have the shot I was too scared to take and I need you to get me back in there so we can put a stop to all of this. Every cycle, thousands more Irkens go missing and end up beneath the capitol. I made a promise to those two that I would keep them safe, and I won't let anything bad happen to you either."

Purple pushed his touch away once more, whining when he returned and continued to clean him free of his own dejection. "L-Let me get this straight," he began in repulsed disbelief, "_you_ were supposed to marry Sen? How come I never knew about it?"

Red thought a moment and came up short. "I don't know. You're guess is as good as mine and all I know is that I need your help to finish what my team and I started." He tossed the towel over his shoulder and took Purple sympathetically by his narrow shoulders to lower him back, tugging up a soft woolen blanket over his form as a flood of emotions resurfaced and bogged him back down, forcing him deeper into the comforting fabric prison his friend was deftly shrouding him in.

Slaves? There were more of them? Not just more…thousands. Maybe even hundreds of thousands of Irkens of all heights and backgrounds hooked to wires and medical tubing as their DNA was stolen and reconstructed into something hidden and still unclear. If what Red was saying was true cold fact, that would mean that Tallest Del was promoting the capture and torture of his own citizens for some unknown gain Prime Minister Ipi was undoubtedly throwing back into his face like a treat. And he had to marry the daughter of one of the most ruthless dictatorial powers in their star system? He scanned Red's face as he hesitated, opening up an internal debate with himself before lounging back atop the comforter and giving Purple an exhausted, slow blink. He was covered in scars, a mess of destroyed skin and bleached eye color amalgamated into a firestorm of witty banter and pure, fanned hatred sizzling to untamed perfection in the pit of his spooch and out for blood. He respected Purple's boundaries, merely watching through the darkness as he feebly wrangled with everything he knew being pitilessly splintered before him into something so much worse than he had ever expected it to be. Red had been the first of them to fall to the curling claws of Ipi and Sen by the heartless order of Del, but the DNA…why? Why would they need Irken DNA? It didn't make any sense, hurting Purple's mind and setting him into a throbbing headache as he turned away from Red's now forgiving, benevolent eyes and stared at the far wall, letting his attention fall on an expansive crack running from the base of the room to the pinnacle. What if Red was lying? What if this was all a sadistic game he was playing to get him to the capitol and complete his mission? What if he had gone mad, driven to the brink by Lire and his repulsive fantasies?

How could anything this horrendous be _real_?

"Are you in?" Red's near inaudible voice cut through the gloom, rocketing Purple back into the present as he was overcome by the smell of his cologne now clinging to his clammy skin. "I need you help, but I want it to be your choice too."

No…this was real. There was sincerity there, easygoing, undemanding kindness and passion for his cause dripping and hanging on every word flooding from Red's mind. He was here to save them, to guide them all into the glorious radiance of untapped freedom and potential lingering in them all as he led them to a brighter future. This was real…this was real.

Purple rolled back over with a sniff, feeling the ship lurch and rock them both away from their collective anxieties as he tried to manage a smile and failed, resorting instead to a tiny nod as Red pulled the now magnificently warm blanket back over his exposed shoulder. "I'm in." He breathed. "I'll help you and your cause because it's mine now too and you promised to take me away after this is over. You have my word."

"That promise still stands. I'm a man of my word and I won't back out until I see it through, whether you like it or not." Red grinned and stood, leaving Purple behind in his confusion as he strode to the hatch and slung a leg over the lip before looking back with enough fire to burn the entire Empire completely to the ground. "I guess I'll tell the team we put the hook in you while you sleep. I'll come get you when we get close, but you deserve to rest. Welcome to Lavender Fire, Pur!"

Purple couldn't help himself, giggling when Red gracelessly plunged himself through the hatch and landed below with a pained shout and a hot curse, secretly knowing he was only proving himself to be a fool in order to make Purple laugh.

Lavender Fire.

What a name.

Purple rolled back over and exhaled, unintentionally drinking in Red's scent slathered over his body and finding an odd sense of comfort in the hints of delicately spiced notes combined with his natural pheromones. Once he got past the idea that he was marinating in his stale sweat, the guy actually smelled pretty good, the scent enough to drag Purple down into the much-needed, beautifully safe feeling of his first good sleep he would have in a while. He tried to stay awake but couldn't, listening off and on to the chattering voices of Tak and Red bickering mixed in with the snickering laughter of Skoodge trying to keep it all together. Would he really be ok here? Maybe…maybe he could have a place with these guys. Maybe he could find his way and become the hero he always knew he was and wanted to be.

Yes.

Here…now…he was a hero. And he was determined to crack whatever was going on beneath the surface.

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Thanks for the read lovelies! I appreciate you so much and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Sorry it was late, my date changes are rare and if you ever suspect one, you can always look up in the comments or the beginning of the last posted chapter! I will relay information there! Thanks angels!

_**Next Update: Wednesday, January 15, 2020 at 10:00 pm CDT (UTC -5)! See you then!**_


	5. Spiced Cologne

Welcome back to this episode of our dark little fic! Thank you all for your continued support in following my work! This chapter has a soundtrack! What? Yes, I am that dork who puts music with their chapters sometimes! This chapter was heavily influenced by the song "Someone to Stay" by _Vancouver Sleep Clinic. _Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter, because we're gonna have a tiny bit of fluff coming up! Thanks angels!

**Chapter rated M for mentions of sexual abuse in the past tense, brief heavy language, suggestive themes, non-explicit nudity, allusions to mental disorders, allusions to PTSD, and general adult themes.**

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Spiced musk and saccharine warmth melted viscous fear like tangy oil, smoothing it over and encapsulating the atmosphere in something less than perfect but still beautifully serene. Purple hadn't had good sleep in months, waking up every so often to peek up at the grungy chipping paint of the ceiling spanning above him when the ship would gently shudder or rock him back to consciousness before sighing contentedly and nestling back into the thick, welcoming fluff of the woolen Plookesian blanket pulled up over his chin. He wasn't sure if he was snoring or if he was picking up on the hum of the thrusters outside as they jetted leisurely through the atmosphere, peaceably drifting back off into the kindest dreams he'd had in a long while despite the bloodshed he'd witnessed when the noise ceased altogether and left him with the gorgeous comfort of enshrouding darkness and the yawn of the cheap mattress caving under him to tenderly cradle his PAK and weary spine. His antennae twitched in a directionless fervor, instinctively listening to Red's stoic whispers below and Tak's periodic relaying of their coordinates, remaining alert out of habit and refusing to go completely limp for the residual apprehensions of Lire's long lost soul meandering in and slipping into bed with him to wrap his arms around his waist and plant a filthy, unwanted kiss to the back of his neck before nearly squeezing the very life from Purple's mind in his disgustingly gentle hold. He could almost feel his moist breath graze the nape of his neck, could almost hear the deafening sound of calloused fingers running the length of his feathered antennae as his advisor purred into his body heat like a parasite. The image of the green-eyed menace graced his mind a few times through his much needed slumber, forcing him into a sleep-inebriated panic as he tossed and turned, digging his convulsing claws into the fibers of the slate grey comforter around him and squeezing at whatever he could find when he broke out into a cold sweat and felt his breathing escalate to something that made him feebly lightheaded, the mounting scent of unwarranted alarm and distress mixing in with the well rounded smell of Red's cologne tainting his slick skin with something delightfully foreign he oddly remembered from his recent past. It was aromatic and multifaceted with notes of fresh citrus and ginger coupled with something odd he couldn't seem to identify, pulling Purple back to the present with every shuddering inhale and allowing him to gradually reel himself back in before he drowned in his own sadistic history. Yes…yes…he remembered this. He remembered it lingering through the hinges of his doorframe as he wept through the night and remembered catching fleeting, soothing allusions of the complicated fragrance wafting down the corridor on the rare occasions he was allowed to leave on his own. He could never hunt down the source, carefully trudging down the hallway to glance around the sharp metal corners, hoping to see the tall, powerful white knight he'd wished so desperately for as he shivered on the slippery porcelain floor of the chilly cleansing room under the expansive map of the stars he pretended were all his to command. He never found it, its owner staying once coy step ahead of him when he went on his fictitious chases and tried with all his might to capture the supposed object of his affection, never guessing in his wildest dreams that the man hosting something so opulently exquisite and alleviating would be the cocky, arrogant mess of a rogue rebel he'd come to know over the past few hours. Well…sort of. He'd known Red for over six long months of torture, or at least he had been hanging in the sidelines to try and woo Del into giving him the position to transport Purple to his final destination, silently observing and learning every fine detail he could about his personality hidden beneath mountains of regulations and sticky makeup. How much did he know? It was bizarre to think about, someone knowing you so intimately and being close enough to brush you with their gentle fingertips, yet still feeling so utterly distant and tossed to the wind without any form of direction to follow when you realized you knew absolutely nothing in return. Red had been the original consort to his future wife, Sen, a now crimson eyed beauty who chose to scar his once lithe form with imperfect hatred for the very system he was attempting to shakily uproot without any fear of the potential ramifications of his deadly actions. He was a pretentious loudmouth, a ruthless prankster, a grown smeet with intrusive eyes and keen, glittering crimson burning every inch of Purple's rationality when he glanced in his direction and laughed with the nasal tone he wanted to get to know. He was…what was he? Did Purple even have a word to describe him? Demon? Asshole? Enigma? No, none of those rang true enough to be exactly what he was looking for, only frustrating him more in his groggy, half-awake state of perpetual confused dissociation. He didn't know Red; Red knew _him_. Did he know he liked to draw and sketch in secret? Did he know that he preferred to get his hands dirty than to keep them manicured and clean? Did he know that he had an innate need to take things apart and study how they worked, often getting in trouble with Tallest Del and Lire when he would dismantle his bedside clock or transmitter purely out of boredom?

Purple reached down, balling up Red's filthy shirt and drawing it up before scenting it deeply with his antennae and melting into the familiar tones he never knew he would find one day. For two long cycles, he'd been violently instructed by force to remain pure, to work as a hidden sexual slave to Lire and a puppet to Tallest Del's cabinet in preparation to trade ownership with the Callnowian government where he would undoubtedly be a forgotten servant once more. He was nothing to them, a beating pulse with two hands and two feet meant to give and expected to enjoy the ruthless take regardless of how undesirable or absolutely painful it really was.

Yet here he was…in another man's bed, wearing another man's clothes, slathered in another man's cologne.

A man who's name he wasn't even sure was true.

Red.

Did it matter? Did it really matter if Red had become someone new? Wasn't that someone exactly who he was meant to be in some backwards way? Why was Purple so hung up on this in the first place, rolling his name over his tongue as he ran his hands through the plush fabric concealing his body and smiled softly to himself in the low light. Every inhale of his faint pheromones remaining on the collar brought peace, every brush of his stalks against his DNA permeated into his shirt brought tranquility, and every curl of his toes into the mattress he knew Red had slept in for cycles brought on a need to know him deeper that both irritated and intrigued Purple in the same breath. He tried not to get ahead of himself as he rolled onto his back with a long sigh of contented peace tinged with a longing to trudge down the hatch and talk with Red through the night to finally crack what was beneath his hard-shelled surface to find the gooey, molten core of odium, misery, and fortitude boiling below and flooding into a stew of gritty, hot determination unlike any Purple had the fortune to ever witness in his young life. Somehow, he had the feeling that Red wouldn't be an easy one to break open with just a few talks; no, Purple would need to butter him up before he took a sledgehammer to the logically childish personality thrown up as an obvious mask to the tediously hidden network of nerve endings and meticulously veiled memories he was undeniably curious about.

Ugh. Stop. Stop all of this nonsense and pull yourself together! Yes, he liked the idea of Red taking him away from this dastardly, backwards place of never-ending torment and servitude, but he was just an Irken like the rest of them with a few similar experiences and a cloaked wrath Purple knew was hovering within his veins but never wanted to see. He was an Irken with an idea and no real means or plan to make it happen.

He was nothing special.

Or…was he? A better question would be, _could_ he be?

Purple felt dubious, conniving, and absolutely free the more he snuggled down into the unwashed fabric drawing him up into a heavenly radiance he dreaded he would never see again, freezing and rolling over as his eyes shot wide to the sound of someone struggling to ascend the titanium hatch in the floor on skilled PAK legs and hastily smoothing his shirt back out over his chest. He tried to remain still, letting his antennae go limp when he realized how horrendously ridiculous he had been, scolding himself for his unforeseen wonders and the infuriating magnetism of Red's voice and smell fogging his rationality and making him think bitter nonsense. What did this nonsense even mean in the first place? It made him fidget, made his palms sweaty, made his fast-paced mind slow to hyper focus on the bottomless color he'd seen out in the snow when he pulled Red down from where he was undoubtedly going to freeze to death. It was almost as if a static had overtaken his body and bogged him down with an electric current he hadn't asked to feel in the first place, buzzing over every cell the more he thought and eating away at his precious morality for everything he had learned when he counted the times Red had openly defied his already fictitious orders and touched him. One…two…three…four…five. He had brushed Purple over five different times without regard for the consequences of execution he could be faced with should anyone ever find out, and Purple couldn't decide if the rebellious cadet was repugnantly stupid or abysmally courageous.

Purple bit his lip when he heard Red sigh across the room and stoop to work off his boots, the sound of metal clasps popping and clanking to the floor as he moved and tried to keep quiet for the sake of his not-so-slumbering protectorate inconspicuously squeezing his way as far into the wall as he could when his pulse spiked and he willed himself to calm. He had to remember that he was nothing more than a pawn to the rebel leader and the rest of Lavender Fire, just as Tak had spat into his face, and they would all part ways as soon as this whole endeavor was over and Red took him to the Nebula at the end of the quadrant to hide himself away from the universe for the rest of his life. They were detached colleagues and distant warriors fulfilling a dastardly rescue mission of thousands below the capitol together, nothing more. Red needed him to infiltrate Ipi and Sen's palace and that was that.

That was all it would ever be.

There was the rustle of fabric followed by the zipping of an industrial grade zipper before two bare feet padded around seas of wrappers and hidden treasures to the side of the mattress, slogging down and redistributing the weight as Purple held his breath and immediately panicked once more. Wait…why was he here? Why was he here when he thought Purple was venerable and sleeping? Was he going to do the same things to him that Lire had done? Was he secretly trying to win his trust all so he could touch his body in confidential ways that…that…?

Purple clamped his now healed hand over his mouth to mask a terrified whimper when Red gave a fat yawn and peeled the comforter away to slip beneath it, pressing his bare chest to the now balmy metal of Purple's PAK and snaking a heavy arm around his petite waist to draw him in from behind as he yawned leisurely once more and brushed their icy toes together. Purple tried not to hyperventilate when Red mindlessly traced his ribs through his shirt with a slow thumb, feeling another bout of tunnel vision flood his senses as a tiny growl bubbled up in the back of his throat and every muscle in his body stiffened to a painfully tense bundle of potential energy threatening dangerously to burst.

No.

No.

No.

Irk, please, no!

Every flick of his hands, every inhale, every thump of his heartbeat against his hardware sickened Purple beyond belief as he waited for the other shoe to drop...waited for Red's hands to travel.

He was just like the rest of them, wasn't he? He was here to force him down into the mattress with strong arms and claim what he thought was his for conquest as Purple cried and dealt with the mixture of pain and pleasure he never wanted to feel in tandem or have stripped from him on a repeated loop he could never seem to end. He was supposed to be a warrior on the battlefield, not a hole for any other man around him to abuse whenever they saw fit. No…no. He _was_ a warrior! He was a warrior and he was allowed to take control, to use every scrap of Elite knowledge he'd been given in the Academy to reclaim his dignity and show the universe that even if he was shattered, he could pick up the pieces of jagged glass scattered at his unsteady feet and use them to slice through the very domination keeping him oppressed.

He was a man.

He was an adult.

He was more than a toy and he deserved respect!

When Red moved to press his forehead to the base of his skull and accidentally brushed the back of his neck with his breath, Purple spilled over the terrifying edge and felt a switch flip in his mind, rolling with a shout and rocketing up to fly forward, tackling Red around the waist as his eyes flew wide in sudden shock at the collision that sent them both careening backwards in a tangle of wool and thrashing claws over the spongy edge of the mattress. Purple tried to keep the edge, taking advantage of Red's stunned surprise and pinning him on his back under his thighs as he threw the comforter aside and reeled back with a wild snarl, landing an unforgiving blow to his cheek and feeling something pop under his knuckles before Red cried out and threw his hands up in defense, grabbing at Purple's wrists and wiggling free to knee him hard in the stomach. Purple coughed as his precious breath left him to be replaced by blistering pain and fell to the side, screeching in horror when Red overpowered him and forced him hard into the grungy floor amidst a pile of rough papers and dockets from cycles ago, thrusting his face hard into the metal and twisting his arms behind his back as he jammed his knee into the small of his back and put his spine-crushing weight beneath his PAK.

"N-No! Get off of me!" Purple managed to squeak out against the burn in his lungs.

Red reached up with his free hand to wipe away the thin trickle of blood spilling from the corner of his mouth as he panted. "W-What the hell is your problem?! I came up here to keep you warm and you fucking attack me?!" He bit back, spitting a mouthful of metallic blood to the side as he watched Purple writhe and struggle pathetically beneath his authoritarian hold.

"Don't! I-I don't wanna!" Purple refused to give up his brawl as he yelled, swallowing another cough when he was met with a mouthful of dust and squeezed his eyes shut to the shameful, internal torment he was sure he was going to experience. "I don't wanna! I-I don't wanna!"

Red blinked in perplexity, easing up a bit and letting go of his arms completely, staring down when Purple dug his claws into the metal and froze in numbed horror as he hummed out his dismayed flashbacks. "Don't wanna…what? I'm not going to-" Red felt a harsh elbow connect with the sensitive bone of his ribcage when Purple went back on the offensive, hooking him behind the knee and grabbing him viciously by the collar as he moved to straddle him on his knees. "Woah! W-Woah! Hang on a second, what the hell is happening?!"

Purple remained firm, glaring down with a scorching detestation and appalling animosity as his chest heaved from above. "Shut up! I'm not letting you run your nasty hands all over my body like everyone else! You other men are all the same, thinking you can come in here and shove your filthy fingers in me without my permission! Not this time! This time I'm gonna put your head on a spike and make _you_ hurt!" He barked, letting his expression fall flat when he noticed a deep, rosy color flood up to meet Red's cheeks before he threw his hands up in front of his disturbed eyes with an embarrassed shout that came out as an awkward, humiliated stutter of something Purple didn't understand. Purple slowly looked down to his fully exposed intimates, letting go of his prisoner's jacket collar with a squeak of his own and scrambling back when he realized he was only wearing Red's shirt, completely forgetting the rest of his clothes were still wet from their trek through the snow.

"K-Keep your eyes covered, you dumbass!" He stuttered, digging through boxes for anything he could find to cover himself and unintentionally pulling on a pair of Red's folded boxers before kicking him hard in the side. "W-What's wrong with you?! H-How much did you see?!"

Red slowly peered through his fingers and refused to answer the blatantly obvious answer, groaning in mortification before pushing himself up and making his way back to the hatch. "T-Those are my boxers! Fuck! Let me…um…eh…let me go see what we have downstairs for you to wear. A-Also…I was just here trying to keep you warm! We landed a few hours ago and it's too early in the morning to go into the…um….the capitol because they've closed off the protective dome so we had to turn off the thrusters to save fuel and…I just thought….dammit! Nothing! It's just cold in here!"

Purple said nothing, refusing to make eye contact as Red fumbled with the hatch. "You…weren't going to touch me?" He mumbled suspiciously, venturing a glance and feeling a tiny snicker come on when he noticed Red was still gawkily shielding his face from view. "You didn't come here for anything weird?"

Red tried to stifle a fake gag but couldn't, finally popping the hatch and shoving his hands in the pockets of his thermal jacket as he averted his discomfited gaze to the ceiling with a thick swallow. "Why the hell would you think I would put the moves on you if you didn't even want it?" He groaned in self-conscious distress. "I told you why you're here and I'm not…I'm not gross! Do you _think_ I am?"

Purple clamped his knees together and sat on the edge of the mattress, gripping at his shins with uncomfortable claws when he realized what he'd done combined with the hint of nervous disappointment in Red's wavering voice, letting his tiny smile of relief fade and immediately looking away when he noticed his colleague had broken out in a sweat as he shifted clumsily on his bare feet. Red really didn't come here to assault him? He just wanted to be nice and keep him warm through the now obvious frost hanging in the air?

Oh, Irk.

_He_ was the one who had made it weird.

"Um…Sorry. Y-You're not gross." Purple mumbled under his breath and felt his pulse thump in his antennae as Red struggled gracelessly to keep his powerful crimson eyes averted out of fear he would see something else he wasn't supposed to, flinching uneasily when Purple reached up and held the legs of Red's boxers flush with his own to completely conceal himself. "I…I'm used to other guys…well…taking me because I'm the property of the Empire. I didn't mean to-"

"N-No! I-It's ok! And…you're not property. Just…well…I…Fuck! I-I'm fine!"

"Are you sure because you look-"

"Shut up! I said I-I'm fine! Just…try to stay quiet because Skoodge and Tak are still sleeping and Tak gets really grouchy when she doesn't get enough rest. I'm gonna go find you something to wear and I'll…eh…b-bring you some breakfast."

Purple wanted to cringe as Red's once commanding, authoritative voice turned to something gauche and inept, a string of gawky syllables and unflattering, rambling peeps as he dropped through the open frame and landed on the metal grate below before stumbling off to find something mildly warm for them to eat. Purple waited until he heard another hatch pop followed by the clang of dinnerware and an untamed, blistering curse when something shattered, slinging his head in his hands when his face and shoulders turned hot and Red smashed something else on accident directly below him. How could he be so stupid as to project his past on someone else? He shook his head, tightening his palms over his eyes when he felt the same hollow despondency creep back up in his already uneasy chest and pop like a bubble of shame and incredulity to taint his lungs with every breath he took. He wanted out of Red's clothes when he became incredibly aware of every fold touching his skin and tried not to think of them doing the same to his new friend's when he wore them, every tiny scent of lingering citrus and musk wafting up around him and teasing at his senses, making him unbearably woozy and lightheaded now that the asshole had seen him in ways that were most definitely illegal.

Damn him. Damn his cologne, damn his hands, damn his presence.

Why did Red have to smell so…_delicious_?

Purple nearly came unglued at the unforeseen thought, slamming his hands down into his lap and opening up an internal conflict with himself when he panicked once more and became frazzled. What the hell?! Why was he even thinking something like that?! He'd only officially met the guy not even twenty four hours ago and he was already going down the dark path of no return, scowling to himself and smoothing his hands up over his raw cheeks to hide the bloom of gorgeously deep pink splayed like a rose garden beneath his skin when he noticed two hands struggle to push two plates of microwavable pancakes up through the hatch, spilling a bit of scrumptious, gooey syrup in the process. He huffed irritatedly to himself and crossed his legs tightly with a deep frown when Red pulled himself up by his PAK legs and nearly tripped, arms empty and void of the clothing he promised to find.

"Sorry, I don't think we have anything else for you to wear that'll fit besides…my clothes." Red rubbed at the back of his neck, stooping and retrieving the two plates of piping hot pancakes from the floor and trying not to drop the forks balanced under his arm as he crossed to where Purple had begun to stew in his own appalled loathing. "Don't worry about the boxers, I promise they're clean. Here, I brought you pancakes."

Purple still refused to make direct eye contact, reaching out and waiting for Red to hand him his fork and plate before scooting away across the mattress to silently take the first bite of sugary goodness he was allowed in two cycles. He took his time with it, almost moaning into the scrumptious taste of cheap convenience food he had almost forgotten about, looking up as Red poked a whole pancake with his fork and tilted his head back, forcing it into his mouth and freezing when he caught sight of Purple watching him in utter fascination.

"Uwah?" He mumbled the muffled question in between chews as viscous syrup dripped down his chin to his lap, grinning disgustingly when Purple held back a laugh and continued to daintily cut his food into uniform pieces before taking small, poised bites. Red swallowed and shook his head. "What are you doing?"

"I'm cutting my food like a normal Irken instead of halfway choking in the process." He mused playfully, plucking another bite from the tip of his fork and chewing lightly as his taste buds were overcome by the scrumptious, hot richness of butter and sugar he missed more than anything. "You look gross and you're spitting food everywhere. Don't you sleep here?"

Red shrugged and went for his second overdone bite, holding it up and splashing syrup in Purple's direction as he shrunk back with a tiny laugh and bit his lip. "Maybe I want my bed to smell delicious, ever think of that?"

Delicious.

_You smell delicious._

Purple kept quiet to the idiotic question when the same realization danced through his mind, finishing off his first piece and daintily moving to his next as Red pounded back food like it was going out of style, scraping his fork obnoxiously against the inexpensive plastic of his pillaged plate for every last sticky crumb and drop of molten goodness. "Do you get to eat like this all the time?" He piped back up after a while, trying to scoop up a glob of mapley tastiness on his fork and frowning when it fell through the prongs. "You used to be the consort for Sen, so did you ever have to do the diet?"

Red swallowed with a cough, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand and thinking a moment. "Oh, yeah, that thing. Do they still make you eat all that carboard tasting bullshit?" He rolled his eyes and reached behind the edge of the bed, almost dumping what remained of his breakfast to the floor and brandishing a half full bottle of near flat cherry soda with a wide beam.

Purple nodded and took his final bite as Red popped the top to the glass container, taking a swig straight from the neck and trying to pass it over to Purple who looked it over with mounting skepticism. "I had to eat a carefully prepared diet that Tallest Del made for me." He sneered at the scent of acidic alcohol fluttering up against his antennae. "Did you spike your soda? Are you actually drinking with your breakfast? Who does that?"

Red chuckled proudly and took another sip, watching Purple with growing intrigue as he curled his lip and stared gawkily back at the rum spiced drink. "_I_ drink with my breakfast." He mused mischievously with a fleeting wink, laughing again when Purple carefully placed his fork against the lip of his plate at a perfect angle. "Man, you really let them beat all this proper, hoity toity stuff into your head, didn't you?" He blinked and clenched his jaw when he realized what he'd said, noticing Purple squirm a bit at the mention of his many beatings from the past. "Eh…sorry. They didn't do that to me so I keep forgetting."

"You tailed me for six months." Purple mumbled under his breath, feeling the beautifully affectionate tinge to the air dissolve and turn stagnant. "How could you forget that? Also, it's really strange that you know me and I don't know you." He added quickly, trying to inconspicuously get Red to talk about his interests to thaw what little ice still drifted between them.

Red dropped his plate messily to the floor, taking Purple's and doing the same before taking another drink and relishing in the warm, familiar burn of sweet rum singeing the back of his alcohol experienced throat. "What do you wanna know? I'm an open book." He lied through his teeth, narrowing his eyes slightly when Purple looked away to drum up a few questions.

"Where were you hatched?" He asked slowly, clicking his claws together and chewing on his tongue as he tried to come up with something less cliché. "How old are you, what's your favorite thing to do, and why'd you change your name to Red?"

Red followed along leisurely, leaning back on his free elbow and tracing the lip of his glass bottle as he stared into the pale darkness of the room. "Hm, I was hatched off planet on an experimental Smeetery on one of Irk's moons, not saying where, I'm 237, I really like to write but I'm not any good at it, and I changed my name when I changed my eye color because I wanted a fresh start. Now you."

"Hold on, you like to write?" Purple leaned forward a bit, easing back into the conversation and taking the near empty bottle when Red urged him to finish it off. He took a tentative sip and scrunched up his face to the horrendous taste, passing it back and shaking his head in dissatisfaction before speaking once more. "What do you like to write?"

"Mainly short stories and observations. I like to look at people from a distance and make up backstories for why they're there and what they're like. You know, their interests and things." He explained with a beam, lighting up enthusiastically when he remembered something he'd previously overlooked. "I…wrote one about you once back when you were still on the Massive. It's under my pillow in my notebook if you want me to read it. We can see how much I got right just from looking at you." He pointed over Purple's shoulder to where he'd hidden his prized possession. "Then you can tell me if I'm intuitive or not."

Purple followed his gesture, slightly unsettled and flattered at the same time that someone so flighty would pick him out of the crowd swirling around him. He'd captured Red's attention from the beginning, enough for him to include him in his creative arts and try and think of a plausible story behind who he was or what he liked. He couldn't deny that he was intrigued by the strangely serene tone of Red's voice, reaching down and letting his fingertips creep beneath the pillow he'd slept on for more than eight hours and tugging free a thin, half-destroyed notebook before passing it over.

Red snatched it away with impatient hands and immediately peeled it open, releasing cycles of odd creativity and bursts of fantastical imagination along with a few slipped photographs of him and Tak laughing together at a bar across the cosmos in their travels. Purple stooped and scooped one up, turning it over in his hands and admiring the look of utter bliss smeared up over their faces as they held hands over their table and grinned through the glittering light of the night. He frowned, running a thumb over Tak's face and swallowing when Red looked up and grabbed for it, sandwiching it between two unknown pages as he hunted.

"Are you…dating?" Purple asked cautiously, feeling a tiny pinprick of an emotion he didn't recognize stab through his spooch. "You and her?"

Red blinked and held back a smile, a hiss of a laugh escaping between them instead. "Ah yeah. We've been going off and on for the past two cycles, but I think we're finally getting somewhere again." He finally reached the page he was looking for. "She's scary as hell when she's mad, but she's so…I don't know. There's just something about her I like." He sighed lovingly and looked back to the page, clearing his throat and neglecting to notice Purple shift away again across the edge of the mattress.

He was taken. Of course, he was.

Of…of course he was.

Tall, dependable, dorky; of course he was taken.

Purple wasn't sure why that bothered him so deeply. He hadn't known Red for a full day yet, and he still felt the ache of something settling in his stomach that made him want to curl back up and go to sleep until all of this mess blew over. Maybe he thought Red would be different, maybe he thought he would enjoy his company and keep him safe, maybe he thought…he didn't know what he thought. It was all pointless intrigue and surface level infatuation, Purple taking a deep breath and recollecting himself when he realized how petty he was being, to feel something as inconsequential as jealousy and protectiveness over a man he had only just met. Red and Tak had been through literal hell together, they had escaped from Irk knows where and seen Irk knows what, so of course they fell for one another and found that they were compatible in some way or another. Even if she punched him when they first met and didn't pay any lick of attention to the fact that Red was alive after being shot and maimed by the Callnowian guard. No, no, she just went to sit in her pilot's seat and take them on to the sanctity of her precious mission instead of making sure he had eaten or wasn't bleeding out on the floor somewhere.

No, she was a _great_ girlfriend it looked like.

The picture of utter, unbridled perfection.

"Hey, you want me to read this to you or not?" Red chuckled warmly, breaking Purple out of his passive aggressive fugue and only growing more bewildered when he noticed the sour look on his face. "What's up with your expression? You look like you wanna choke me."

Purple felt his antennae twitch involuntarily, internally kicking himself for the swell of envy and mistrust towards Tak exploding within his mind and trying with all his might to extinguish the spark of a blaze before he let it amalgamate into a roaring fire that had no rational need of being there. He reached up and clutched at Red's shirt, digging his claws into the material as he leaned forward and waved in front of his face with a confused blink.

"Can I keep this shirt?" He blurted out against his better judgement, sinking into himself when he realized his emotions had gotten the better of him. Smooth. "I mean…I just don't have anything else to wear and it's really soft, and it smells good and...eh…" He tried to save his case but only made it worse, sighing under his breath when Red didn't seem to understand and nodded anyway.

"Sure. You can go through my clothes if you'd like. Trust me, the clothes they give you in Callnowia are hideous. They're covered in ruffles and tailcoats and" he shuddered, "glitter. I hate glitter! It gets stuck to everything and I was picking it out of my stuff for weeks after I defected."

Purple continued to palm at the helm of his new shirt, rolling the seam between his fingers and trying to forget the strange sense of covetousness raging in his thoughts as he forced a smile and pushed Tak from his mind, swallowing down her image and stowing it in his PAK memories for the time being until she woke up. "You're really nice…um…thanks." He managed a smile at the offer and ushered him on. "Read what you wrote about me so I can hear how bad you failed."

Red snickered playfully and scanned his terrible handwriting, falling back onto the bed and finally beginning what he observed from afar. "What is your name? They told me it was Purple but you don't look like someone who would go for something so plain or boring. I'm going to guess that it's Telphi or Senti, or something else ending in a feminine "I" sound to match your face." He giggled when Purple shoved him lightly in the shoulder and went to shout a hot retort before Red cut him off and continued. "You always sit with Del's advisor, Lire, so I know you're probably pretty tough to put up with a freak like that. I can also tell that you're a great actor based on how well you seem to be enjoying your health food. You're tall, lean, and have a fire in your eyes that makes me never want to get in a fistfight with you. If I were to guess what occupation you had before you became a consort and next in line to rule our Empire, I would guess an engineer or something that keeps your hands soft. You have no scars there, and you have pristine-" He stopped himself short and let his breath hitch as his embarrassment grew once more.

"Pristine what?" Purple asked curiously, reaching out and trying to grab for the notebook as Red grabbed him by the jaw and shoved him back lightly. "Come on! You wrote it about me, so just say whatever it is!"

"N-No! I changed my mind and- Hey! Don't read that!" Red tried to tackle him around the waist when Purple finally wiggled the cardboard covered book free, eyeing the final few lines and reading them out loud with a grin that slowly faded to something of profound, intense distrust.

"…Pristine hands that will never be strong or battle hardened enough to lead an Empire out of the chaos we're heading into. You're too soft and beautiful to lead our crumbling society to greatness."

Red ran a palm up over his face when Purple gingerly closed the notebook and slipped it carefully back under the pillow, standing from the bed and making his way to the hatch as Red called after him in desperation.

"Wait! That's before I knew you! I thought you were some elitist aristocrat they pulled form the city, not a cadet! I don't think that anymore!" Red pleaded, incredibly uncomfortable with the dangerous turn the conversation had taken as Purple put one foot through the still open hatch in the floor and glared back.

"My name is Nemi and I was hatched in the capitol of Veloria. I'm 219 years old, I like drawing and sketching in my free time, I used to be a microbiologist, I'm afraid of the dark, and my name was changed for me but I've grown to like it because Nemi is what Del and Lire called me in private." Purple growled threateningly, halting Red in his tracks and forcing him to swallow in blistering apprehension that was almost palpable. "I hate stuck up assholes who think they know me and can judge me just because I'm a pretty face, and I guess you're one of those too. Take me to the capitol so we can get this over with then take me to the Nebula so I don't have to see your smug face ever again."

With that he slung himself down through the hatch, landing hard on unsteady feet and balling his hands into irate fists as he kicked aside empty soda bottles and threw some semblance of a scorching tantrum. He tugged down Red's now dry sheet and chucked it over his shoulder with a shout, destructively tearing through the hallway and ripping down stacks of music CDs and empty boxes as he went along. He thought he would be a terrible Tallest? What did Red know about politics besides how to disobey them?! If anything, he would obliterate half of Irk with his anarchist ways before he was even inaugurated, laying waste to tradition and secular institutions in a matter of hours…probably. Purple couldn't think, brushing past what was left of Tak's half-eaten midnight meal sitting cold on their battle plan covered table and throwing himself down on the hard plastic of one of the seats that looked like they'd been pillaged from a filthy diner somewhere, spinning to face the table before giving another over animated growl and slamming his cheek down into the table. Red thought he was an idiot. All he was, was the picture of perfect grace and beauty, arm candy for a woman who would treat him like a slave if he stayed, and a failed scientist turned Elite Cadet that never even saw battle. He was pathetic, the lowest of the low forced to rely on his physical appearance alone to make it in the world as the regime pushed him to the side and left him to the mercy of the Callnowian government along with the apparent thousands of other violet-eyed Irkens like him. He sighed to himself and glanced up when Tak trudged by in a fluttering nightgown, looking him head to toe and frowning in groggy confusion.

"Was it you making all the noise?" She half grumbled, half yawned, stepping out of the way when Red came barreling down the hatch and stumbled through the messy corridor to almost collide with the table.

"Come on, Purple, I don't really think that! That was my _first_ impression of you and it was wrong!" He sat in the adjacent seat, tugging away when Tak tried to give him a good morning kiss on the cheek and instead resting his jaw on the table to level with his new, infuriatedly hurt friend. "After I got to know you, I realized you're incredibly smart and actually worthy to ascend to the office. You know every star in this universe like the back of your hand, your diplomacy is excellent, and I've seen the dents in your wall from where you punched out your anger. You're a machine." He whispered almost suppliantly, flicking his antennae forward to try and get closer without overstepping his boundaries again. "I'm sorry I wrote that. I forgot it was there, because I forgot I ever thought that about you. That's how much I don't believe it."

"R-Really?"

"Duh! Why do you think I want you on our team?"

"Because I'm expendible?"

"What? No! Because you're the only one smart enough to keep your mouth shut and give us a chance to finish this whole ordeal off."

Purple stared at the tiny mess of crumbs fluttering across the table in time with his breath as his irritation faded with a smile, only looking up when Tak grabbed Red by the shoulder and tugged him up from where he was sitting to finally place the quick peck of a kiss to his lips that she'd been impatiently waiting for as the two apologized.

"Good. There. Have you two made up, yet? I have to show you something we received this morning, and you're not going to like it." She rolled her eyes and took him by the wrist, leading him on to the cockpit as Purple sunk back down and watched from afar as they chatted lightly and ran their fingers over the wide screen of the dash, jumping when Red slammed his palms down in a sudden fit of untamed rage and spun on his heel to face his hardhearted partner.

"What do you mean they're gone?!" He barked, letting his true colors fly as Tak threw her hands on her hips and gritted her teeth, holding her ground and staring him down with enough intensity to blot out the sun. "We can't take him in there if there's nothing to even take!"

Purple narrowed his eyes in incredulity, slipping free from his seat and striding over as Tak unleashed her own terrifying fury, throwing a clawed finger up in Red's face as he burned. "Look, _sweetie_," She snapped aggressively, pushing him back, "I did everything you asked! I had to stay in that ridiculously short monster's room while you helped our new recruit sleep and battle his stupid demons so you will not yell at me! I don't know where they are! They were all there last night and now they're completely gone! No life signature, _nothing_!"

Red threw himself down in the pilot's seat and dug into the side pocket, pulling out a roll of antacids and popping a few in his mouth as he wrangled with the dire situation they were all suddenly faced with. He crunched away, running a blisteringly furious palm over his quivering antennae as he threatened to explode in the worst of ways, locking eyes with his girlfriend once more and speaking through his teeth.

"I'm the Captain here, Tak, so don't you dare yell at me again. This is your fault for sending in someone so stupid to run recon so don't take this out on me." His voice was terrifyingly calm but his stabbing, crimson gaze suggested otherwise, softening a bit when he noticed Purple lingering beside a control panel and trying to catch a glimpse of the hasty warning report flashing over the screen. "Pur, as you probably heard, we have a problem."

Purple brought his hands together when Red swiveled in his seat to face him, staring past Tak who attempted to put him off with an obscene gesture before stalking off in the other direction to drag Skoodge from the warmth of his own bed and prepare him for an unforeseen change of plans none of them wanted to commit.

"What's wrong? She said someone was missing?" He asked slowly, taking Red's hand when he extended it out and stood, helping him to run his fingers over the screen until he became familiar with the advanced technology and read it for himself. "Captain Red, I'm happy to hear that you are not dead from your crash. The amazing me has stumbled on something hideous and wrong that you will want to see. All the estimated five thousand purple-eyed prisoners we were set to rescue are now missing from their holding pens below the capitol building, but I have recovered some interesting equipment I'll be bringing back to headquarters for evaluation. I have searched every room of Prime Minister Ipi's mansion and personally think we should just blow them up and be done with it. I hope my idea pleases you, my Taller, and I will keep looking."

Missing?

There were no prisoners? At least not here…did Ipi find out about Red's resistance and move them? Or was it something else they didn't understand?

Red reclined back and shoved another fizzy tablet in his mouth, watching silently as Purple processed the damming information and opened his mouth to ask a question, quickly snapping it shut when he couldn't think of anything plausible to begin with in his overpowering confusion.

"I guess we got that earlier in the morning from Zim. He's our demolitions expert and was the only one small enough to make it into the sewer grate to the underground chambers we all escaped from." Red sighed, swallowing what was left of the antacid before looking away and anxiously toying with the zipper on his jacket. "That means that Ipi and Sen moved everyone to another location we don't know about and Irk knows what they're doing with them."

"Why?" Purple asked simply, unable to comprehend what was hiding between the lines of everything swirling around them. "What do they even want with them? I know you said they were doing something with our DNA, but I'm supposed to be the Flesh Exchange that puts an end to all of this warfare, so why do they need thousands?"

Red ran a cool touch over his eyes and tutted his tongue as he thought. "I don't know, but we're going to have to think about this from an angle I didn't want to have to take." He looked up, locking eyes with Purple and letting lose a terrifying, mind-numbing proposal that shattered every last glimmer of hope he had for his future as an independent man, stomping on what remained and eating away at his very soul.

"You have access to the personal lives of Ipi and her daughter. I need you to gather intelligence for me to find out where they've moved them by gaining their trust and getting in good with them…by marrying Sen."

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Oh boy lovelies! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please leave a review if you have time, I read them all and enjoy them immensely! Thank you angels!

_**Next Update: Sunday, January 19, 2020 at 10:00 pm CDT (UTC -5)! See you then!**_


	6. Itch

Welcome back to this episode of Fire in the Snow! Thank you guys for your continued support, and I'm really happy that you guys continue to enjoy this story! I love all of you and I hope you enjoy the chapter and thanks so much for all of the comments, I read every single one of them!

The song for this chapter I've chosen is "How To Be Me" by Ren x Chinchilla. A warning that this song is a bit strange and sad.

**_HEY GUYS! I'm so sorry but I still have a flu and haven't slept well, so I'm u fortunately extending the posting date again to our next scheduled update on Sunday. It will go up at 10:00pm CDT UTC-5 on Sunday. I'm really, really sorry, and I thought I could make it for noon but I didn't sleep, so I hope you understand and I PROMISE PROMISE PROMISE ITLL BE UP BY SUNDAY. I love you all and I hope you come back to see this evil cliffhanger resolved becaue we gonna have a major character death...that you may not EXPECT :V I love you and please don't be mad! You're awesome angels! I'm seeyou FOR SURE SUNDAY!_**

_**Chapter rated M for suggestive themes, brief heavy language, perilous situations, general adult content.**_

* * *

Red shook his head and leaned against the doorframe of the hatch, feeling it dig against his skin as Tak continued to pull on her improvised Elite uniform and clasp the buckle around her petite waist before moving to the overly expensive vanity she had stolen from a Meekrobian bar, throwing open a worn drawer and hunting for two cherry red contacts to slip up under her eyelids as she grumbled. Glittering dawn had crested outside, the icy fringes of frost chased away by the fleeting warmth of the insipid sun eating at the hills and melting the newly formed icicles clinging to the condensation laden thrusters outside. Skoodge had set to work clearing the ship of any other ice particles, scraping obnoxiously at the windshield from outside as Purple padded in the storage unit above, hunting through Red's clothes for something halfway decent to wear for their retrieval in a few minutes. The gargantuan metal dome outside the capitol of Bornau that kept it comfortably warm at night had been peeled away, contracting and folding neatly away to be tucked deep beneath the soil of the expansive city. Tak had called for the aid of the Callnowian Royal Guard to transport them to Ipi and Sen's personal palace, sweetly putting on a saccharine voice of false compliance and erroneous respect to woo them out from the protective gates of the metropolis to usher them all into the heart of their dastardly mission. Of course, Purple had been less than enthusiastic about the shift in plans as Red tried to talk him down from the possible deadly ramifications of what it meant to marry Sen, going through the motions of what he had to endure on a daily basis, reminding him of his horrendously extensive training, and assuring him that no matter what, he would be right there to protect him should anything go wrong. They had to get into the heart of whatever was going on as Zim scuttled like an inquisitive insect beneath the dripping catacombs of the gold enshrouded palace, shining light in every unfortunately empty crevice and abandoned room none of them had anticipated. Eventually, Purple had dropped his voice back to a low simmer and had complied, knowing there was nothing he could do to prevent his perilous fate and deciding that if he was able to help find an estimated five-thousand other violet-eyed prisoners being kept for whatever reason in desolation and hunger shrouded darkness, he would take the risk and find them. Red had watched him walk away from behind, cursing to himself when the same disgusting thoughts arose with every step and flutter of his loose shirt falling down over his freckled shoulders to reveal just enough skin to…no. Ugh!

No.

Six months ago, he had finally wormed his way into Tallest Del's personal, close knit cabinet of advisors to sneak around corners and dig through papers for any delicious morsels of information he could possibly find on the continued transfer of his kind to the dungeons of the frozen wasteland he had learned to call his greatest adversary. He had heard the rumors trickling down from social circles above to waft against his scarred antennae and set alight a strange sense of curiosity deep in the hardened pit of his spooch, listening intently to every carefully placed whisper and brushing flitter of spoken word not yet come to the light. Sen had chosen another. At first, he was excited that she had forgotten about him completely, laughing wildly to himself in the sanctity of his ship as he spun Tak on her heels and planted kiss after kiss on her scrunched up, almost unwilling cheeks before going back to his new, fictitious job the next day as the most formidable General on Irk. He played the part well, chuckling with the rest of Del's advisory team as he quickly got on a first name basis with them all and learned of every minute detail of their personal lives back in their hometowns and the petty drama ricocheting between them all from the gloom. He took stock of every alliance, every pinprick of hatred, every shred of well guarded animosity flashing behind jovial grins and delicate claws set respectfully atop polished tables as Del ordered his team into compliance and expected nothing else other than blistering approval in return…or they would cease to exist. Red had learned that no one dared cross the dictatorial power their Tallest held, observing in utter fascination from afar as he punted service drones from the bridge and roared with thunderous laughter when they dropped the contents of their trays. He was a menace, pushing women out of the way and using their tears to water his garden of terror as posters of his appallingly hidden antics were pasted on every street corner back on Irk to prop him up as the single most benevolent leader of the modern ages. Oh, if only they knew. Still, Red kept quiet, hissing between his teeth and squeezing his way around the food chain, clawing and scratching the proverbial craning eyes of his competition until Del stood him up in front of the crystal clear viewing port of the Massive and spread his arms wide with an elated grin, giving him his first glimpse of the infinitely stunning spectacle the universe could be as they passed through nebulas and tore across star systems that were now pegged for total universal conquest. From that moment on, Red wanted nothing more than to reach up with his pistol and blow a hole clean between Del's sickly yellow eyes, to watch him fall from his high pedestal to his knees as he crumpled and sputtered on a mixture of shock and his own warm, gooey blood. He wanted to maintain eye contact, to watch the flicker of life fade from his lenses as he clutched at his throat and heaved for air, to reveal himself as the man that he had sold into slavery and whisper every single painful experience he had put him through as he stabbed through his dying chest with the cold, sharpened steel of his hard PAK extensions.

This Empire was ripe for revolution.

Red could almost smell it, watching the terrified faces of his subordinates and the snickers of distain thrown behind Del's back as he took his nightly stroll to combat his own insomnia. All it would take was a single blaze, a tiny drink of freedom and an idea to get the heavy thought started downhill. From there it would be like a boulder collecting moss; the momentum would be far too great to stop, anarchic ideals and gorgeous chaos shattering everything the Empire had become to obliterate it completely to dust before someone intelligent and formidable swooped in to run his claws through the ashes and sprinkle them over the seeds of new life as fertilizer, growing the entire Empire from nothing to lead them on to greatness once more.

Red would be that man.

The beauty of it was that no one knew.

Tak and Skoodge merely wanted to save their people and be done with it, to go back to their normal domestic lives on Irk to hold simple jobs for simpleminded tasks, but Red hungered for so much more. Sure, his top priority was saving his people, but he had tasted the toils and opulence of the high life he knew deep in his chest he was always supposed to clutch, running his hands over the lip of Del's desk through their many late night talks and leisure exchange of orders, shuddering every time he imagined himself slinging his boots atop that cluttered surface to stamp dockets and guide the slowly fading Irken way of life towards a newer, cleaner future. It ate at him, tearing holes in his moral judgement every night he wrapped his arms around his girlfriend's waist as she snored lightly in his careful hold. It burned his toes in his soles every time he walked the same route he had learned to call routine, nodding on to navigators and pilots who saw him as a magnificently exquisite example of pride and grace and turned him in his tracks when Skoodge suggested they all live together as a collective when they returned to Irk. Zim was just as hungry as Red, talking on wild, untamed loops from dusk to dawn about the beauty of destruction and hatred as catalysts to change and exclaiming that he would undoubtedly be the next Tallest should Del finally fall. The others had laughed back in his face as Red watched from the sidelines, gradually scrawling notes in the internal coding of his PAK as he plotted the scrumptious demise of the Callnowian Empire holding his people hostage. They would have to fall for his new world order to erupt and find its tentative way to the radiance of political cataclysm; there was no way he could let Ipi and Sen take half of all Irken territories. They had talked feverishly about it against warm candlelight from Sen's personal chambers, her wide black eyes shining excitedly through the shadows as she ran the disgusting pads of her scaly fingers over Red's chest from where he stared up at the dance and twirl of flames echoing against the ceiling, his only anchor through her damming words. Her and her mother were planning on upholding the contract, from what he understood, and planned to take half of everything Del conquered, maintaining that equal exchange when Red ascended to Tallest following the untimely death of their current leader.

No…no. They wouldn't take anything belonging to Irk.

Not as long as Red was here to stop it.

He still didn't know what was so important about purple-eyed DNA or why Ipi had requested her daughter marry outside her own species in the first place for something medical he couldn't wrap his liminally dynamic mind around. All he cared about was finding his people, freeing them, slaughtering Ipi and Sen where they stood to give an edge to the Irken rebels still fighting in the planet's eastern hemisphere, and somehow makeing his way back to Del's cabinet to blast his head clean off his shoulders to dance in his sticky, viscous blood.

He would get what he wanted, and no one would get in his way...Or so he thought.

Purple was an enigma, an annoying yet equally lively mix of self-loathing and self-pride dancing in tandem in a death-defying spiral going nowhere. Red had noticed him from afar the day that Del assigned him to his hazardous undisclosed mission and pointed him out with a shaky claw across the wide expanse of bustling, noisy cafeteria to where he sat with Del's favorite henchman, Lire, and trained rigorously on how to eat properly in front of his future wife. Red had frozen, running his gaze over the waiflike image of oddly intriguing flawlessness, unable to look away as Del continued to show him about and give him his first overly broad tour of the ship he would come to call home. They had taken a break from the exciting new prospects of Red's false job, sitting and being expectantly stormed by Irkens clamoring to sit with their Tallest for their own vain wants of transitory status and idiotic bragging rights, Red all the while munching on a lunch he hadn't even noticed was slid before him until it instinctively found its way to his mouth from his firm grip on his fork as he stared in gawky enchantment to the mission he had finally been graced with. He had been told in written reports that Purple was the spitting image of heavenly Irken perfection, with pale skin kept out of the beating warmth of starlight and a faint dusting of sugar-sweet freckles splayed mouthwateringly over his shoulders that mimicked the charm and allure of captivating universal maps each and every officer of the Massive wanted to trace with their fingers.

Constellations. Just like the stars themselves.

They crept up over his lithe neck, peeking up from beneath his collar from afar as they beckoned Red in over the booming noise of chattering questions and flippant, rehearsed answers spilling on impulse from his lips as he ate and nearly choked when Purple's thin antennae flicked backwards to the exciting racket of the crowd, shooting an evanescent, unfathomable lavender flash over his petite shoulder before Lire smacked the top of the table and rocketed his attention back.

Then it became about him.

Him.

It began as a tiny itch. A feeling barely there and soaking through Red's scratchy uniform as he patrolled the corridor at night in his lonesome and listened to Purple talking to himself from within his locked quarters, finding himself imagining what mysterious, multifaceted conversations they could possibly unearth if he could only find the courage to reach out and flip the external lock on his door, finding himself answering under his breath as he pretended. Red despised his unfathomable interest. He would end his shift and trudge back to his own personal quarters, plug in his concealed transmitter and call Tak from wherever she and their team had pillaged that day and laughing hollowly as she recounted her supposedly exciting tales of their meaningful conquests and flashed their loot over the screen. She would lay back over his LCD in the very bed they had shared for cycles and give him a show unlike any other when she was lonely and in the mood, moving to get herself off as he acted through his own fake, distant pleasure to keep her happy and unaware of the unbearable itch blooming into an infection in his chest.

Purple had infected him with his looks, destroyed him completely with the rare glimpses of his genuine pearly smile, and had captivated him with his profound intellect from afar. He had become nothing more than a purulent, festering mess of unwanted feelings and suppurating longing for a man who he knew was everything to his plan. He knew Purple liked to tinker, taking things apart and getting rapped on the knuckles when Lire would come back and find the control panel to his door dismantled completely. He knew he liked to slyly eat in secret, sneaking tiny morsels of candy from Del's dish on his desk when he wasn't looking and hiding them in his waistband to suck on later at his own leisure. He also knew Purple was a force to be reckoned with, a powerhouse of deprived, pent up strength pounding out his frustrations and blistering depression in his wall to dent the nearly impervious metal…at least in the beginning. Red had watched him deteriorate with time as Lire kept him soft and supple, trimming down on the sleek muscle he had amassed in the Academy to something pencil thin and delicately gorgeous but unable to fight back against the advances of the nasty officers who plagued his life.

Red knew…he knew and he wished he didn't. But if he didn't, Purple would have no one.

Lire had touched him on more than one occasion, requesting he come to his room once a week for their bizarre, nauseating sexual rituals he knew Purple didn't want but powered through against the threat of excruciating blackmail and agonizing torture. He wanted to step in, to break every brittle bone in the hideous little monster's body with every soft sob and forced, nearly inaudible moan he unfortunately picked up through the dense titanium, biting his tongue until it bled and ducking around corners out of sight when he heard Lire finish and force Purple out into the hallway in nothing more than his nightgown to make the grueling walk of shame back to his own quarters. Unfortunately, it wasn't just Lire. Other officers would sometimes come and go when they got brave enough to sneak a rare opportunity, slamming Purple down during his daily allotted free time to force him into things he hated all because he was a pretty face. Red always stayed close, averting his eyes and clamping his antennae to his skull to the risqué sounds and scents invading his blown out senses, knowing the horrendously backwards Empire supporting them all and claiming excellence was the most dubious, adulterous place in the Universe behind closed doors. They never went far enough to take the coveted virginity Purple had to maintain for the sake of his own life and the lives of the cabinet should they send a used Irken to the domineering clutches of Ipi, but the damage was consistently done to his battered psyche. Red wanted to hold him, to wrap his arms around his waist and hoist him up and away from the overbearing torment whipping him across the face or to hold his antennae back as he retched and vomited into his sink at the thought of what he had just done with whoever's eye he had caught. He deserved better...Red wished he could be that better.

Soon, the itch had bloomed into an unbearable fire.

Red craved him. He craved him more than he craved food, more than he craved the mission, more than he craved his own seekings for inspiring excellence hanging at his fingertips. He wanted Purple to slip his long arms into his jacket and wear it through the halls as he tainted it deliciously with the beautiful natural scent Red had become intoxicated with, wanted to take him to cozy breakfast in the morning after they both woke up and rolled over to brush antennae and plant tiny, amorous kisses over apple cheeks and freckles laced with breathy giggles. At first it was a shallow longing based on the physical, but the more Red darted through his shadow and listened to his voice, the more he poked through his belongings when he was gone and read his little notes to himself strung around end tables, the more he felt himself slipping to drown in the sweltering violet of a man who could never be his. He was promised to another, as was Red, and they were two stars hovering in completely different worlds and galaxies billions of miles apart. He was overwhelmingly intelligent and inquisitive while Red was brutish and gung-ho. Purple had an innate interest in the sciences and a need to better himself academically, while Red had nearly failed his own examinations in the Elite. He was the handsome prince and Red was the foolish jester. He was the very force of nature shaping the natural landscape around them, and Red was the weary rock face buffeted by his magnificent sands. And so he stayed with his girlfriend and tried to maintain the lack of healthy interaction they threw themselves into night after night and rolled over to look away through the shadows when their forceful personalities clashed and rained down sparks on what was left of the rapidly fading lust they had once shared. And…there was a problem.

Purple had been chosen to ascend to the rank of Tallest.

Red couldn't have that.

No…he _definitely_ couldn't have that.

Red had planned his own rebellious ascension for cycles upon cycles after he assassinated Del as his own team slumbered around him, pouring over hidden political notebooks and soaking in as much of how the system worked as he could while Del and Lire remained oblivious to having ever known him before. To them, he was a scarred mess of mangled flesh and discarded military uses packed away for disposal once his mission was completed. Thank Irk they hadn't recognized him, but the very idea that they had chosen another to fall in line for Tallest was…difficult., to say the least. Red couldn't deny his piquant interest in getting to know Purple on a deeper level or the sharp, concentrated ache to kiss him the way he deserved, but he also knew that he couldn't have him hanging around if his plans were to go off without a hitch. He was to be used for the advancement of the mission and taken away to wherever he wanted to go, hopefully somewhere far, to never be seen again as Red crushed his opposition beneath the steel toe of his combat boots.

Yeah…Purple had to leave…he…h-he had to leave.

Red would be Tallest and he would make sure of it.

"You don't love me anymore, do you?"

Red nearly came out of his skin, glancing back up as Tak slipped the first of her deep crimson contacts up under her eyelid and blinked at the scratchy texture, turning and giving him a duel colored, irritatedly hurt stare. He didn't know what to say, shrugging and nodding on impulse and immediately regretting his flippant decision when Tak groaned and slumped back in her chair.

"You really _don't_ love me, Styx. You're so involved with the mission it's almost as if you've completely forgotten I exist." She growled, biting back a flood of hot tears when she noticed him grappling with his own internal conflict.

"Tak, we've been over this." He whispered under his breath when he heard Purple's incessant pacing slow to a stop above them. "Number one, that's not my name anymore so stop calling me what I'm not. Number two, of course I love you. You're one of my closet friends."

Tak rolled her eyes and leaned forward, holding her other now watery eye open with expert fingers as she neared her cornea with the lens. "I'll call you whatever I damn well please and _Styx_ is your name! _Red_ is some weird nickname you've chosen to run away from who you are!" She bit back louder than Red would have liked, slipping the sticky intrusion in place and cursing when it slipped before blinking a few times. "You're living an impossible fantasy and you need a reality check! And what the hell do you mean I'm your best friend?! Is that all you see me as, because I'm supposed to be your girlfriend!"

Red opened his mouth to speak but couldn't find the words when his own annoyances began to boil in his stomach and swell to something he didn't want to tame any longer. He took a deep breath, trying with all his might to maintain some form of composure before keeping his voice surprisingly level when he heard Purple make his way towards the hatch. "Look, I'm here for the same reasons you are, Tak. I'm here to find our people and get them out of the literal hellhole those Callnowian dogs threw them in." He took a few steps forward, immediately backtracking when his partner did the same. "I'm trying to leave behind the life I had to live in that Irkforsaken place and you bringing up my name doesn't help. No, it's not my name. My name is Red and if you don't wanna try and see my side of this whole issue then you need to leave me alone."

Tak blinked and let her jaw go slack, balling her hands up into trembling fists. "Leave you alone?! Excuse me?! Ever since you went on that stupid inside job on the Massive you've come back different! We used to want the same things, we used to want to go back to Irk together, and now it's like I don't even know you anymore. You've let all that power go to your head when you got a taste of what it was like to be above all of us pointless little guys, huh?!" She added condescendingly, crossing her arms over her chest as she chewed on her lip. "You're not here for the same reasons as we are, and I don't even know why you stick around if you wanna go play mister high and mighty with Del's advisory team!"

That did it.

"Shut up, Tak! Listen to yourself! You're accusing me of things you can't even begin to understand and it's _you_ that _I_ don't know anymore! You used to be so kind and cool and you're…I dunno. Now you're jaded and bitter and-"

"At least I still have my grip on reality and I'm not living in some weird fantasy land where everything goes my way and no one gets killed! Just focus on the mission, Styx, or I walk."

"Walk? Please, you wouldn't be able to survive without me."

"I'm perfectly capable of surviving on my own!"

"Ha! Don't make me laugh. You'd be dead in a week! You couldn't even handle getting your eyes changed!"

"I didn't want my eyes changed because I don't want to become someone I'm not and end up like _you_!"

Red froze, swallowing when a sudden hand landed on his shoulder from behind. He blinked the anger from his vision before turning leisurely on his heel and feeling his breath hitch when he was met with the same captivating lavender spice that had hit him like a sledgehammer nearly half a cycle ago.

"Hey, you guys are loud." Purple remarked plainly, antennae twitching aimlessly when Red glanced to the side. "Are you alright?"

"We're fine! This isn't your fight, newbie!" Tak spat as she bristled, stalking forward and slamming the hatch in Red's face before the sound of clothing ripping followed by a wild growl echoed beyond the metal.

Red wanted to fold forward into Purple's touch, wanted to embrace him, but instead tugged away and motioned for him to follow close behind as the sound of a Callnowian Stinger rang out in the near distance and alerted them to the commencement of their under planned overthrow. "We…eh…our relationship is complicated. It'll blow over like always." He decided upon, turning and looking Purple head to toe with a whistle when he noticed what he had chosen to slip on. "Oh, _wow_."

He'd wrapped himself in Red's best suit, clasping the buttons in the front over a deep crimson undershirt and black tie contrasting oddly with the gentle nature of his eye color, combined with his now well polished dress boots laced dutifully to the knee. It was a wonder they were the same size, but something about seeing Purple in a jacket so powerfully masculine and crisp made his head swim. Red swallowed thickly when he noticed the old Callnowian tie tack he was supposed to wear for his wedding clasped over the thick material and tried not to let his jaw go slack at the overpoweringly handsome sight. He'd preened his antennae with careful claws, smoothing out every fluttering fuzz and stray hair to give him a sleek, well put together appearance that made Red's pulse thump through his veins and nearly gave him a glorious headache to the beautiful click of expensive soles against the metal grating below.

"Well, do you think this will be good enough for Sen? She'll probably give me something else to wear, but I have to impress her right off the bat or else she could-"

Red cut him off and finished his sentence on accident. "Reject you. Irk, no there's now anyone in this damn universe would ever think about rejecting you. You look fantastic." He breathed, finally meeting Purple's gaze and noticing he was staring back with equal discomfort, snapping hastily away when someone knocked at the hatch outside and threw it open.

Skoodge bounded in, giving Red a discreet nod before throwing his stocky arms wide with a terrified grin when a delicate, pencil thin, ethereal being ascended the steps into the ship and stopped at the top in the doorframe to inhale the scent of strange, stale air and old food containers. She was flanked by four massive guards on either side, grinning tenderly and bringing her delicate hands down to brush at the front of her ironed back dress, trying with all her might to poof her a-frame skirt back up to its original volume. Her skin was tanned a deep bronze and her lips were plump and perpetually pursed with collagen, smothered with globs of lavish lipstick complimenting her five deep black eyes and unnerving, pure white iris'. The mystery woman beamed once more, showing off her broad, rounded teeth before bringing her long claws to her front to toy at the grey fur of her floor length coat swallowing her whole and making her look smaller than what she truly was. In all reality, she was quite stunning with enviable hips and horrendously expensive jewelry of the finest amethyst and diamonds imported from faraway lands and glittering tastefully in the light.

Red tried to keep his panic to a minimum as his plans went awry once more with the unanticipated visitor, thinking initially that it was only to be a troop of guards coming to transport them further into the capitol. He felt his palms sweat through his gauntlets and straightened his ribbon bar obsessively over his chest as the woman glanced about with advantageous eyes, soaking in the dire state of the ship she was now standing in, a horrendously fleshy contrast to the lack of money Red and his team actually had.

No. No. No!

Why did _she_ have to show up and what was she seeking to gain from removing herself from her opulent life to trudge into the cold?

The woman moved forward with a terrified gasp when her bouncing, flighty gaze landed on Purple, slinging him into a warm, vanilla scented hug and squeezing him tight as she burst into a round of unexpected tears. Purple glanced to Red for help, unnerved to the core when he shot back a look of annoyed knowing, irritated that the woman had the nerve to use her manipulative tactics here in his own ship. At least she didn't recognize him…that he knew of.

"My darling! Oh, goodness, you're alive and in one piece!" Her voice was honied and breathy, a sweet concoction of delicious coziness and tender affection. "I was so worried when I got word you'd been shot down and I'm so happy you're alright!"

Purple tentatively hugged back, trying not to cough when the woman's waist length, silken black hair slid back into his face and nearly blinded him. "Forgive me, miss, but I don't believe we've met." He asked with a nauseatingly rehearsed tone that made him want to throw up in his mouth. He pulled back slightly and gently helped to tuck her hair back over her shoulder as she sniffed and wiped a stray tear to the side. "Please, what's your name?"

The woman sniffed and leaned back in, resting her head against his shoulder as Red grew twitchier from afar and tried not to step in. "Oh, honey, I'm your wife." She glanced up with a mischievous twinkle in her eye when Purple's suspicious were confirmed. "My name is Sen Rapalla, my beautiful Purple. Welcome to your new home in Callnowia!"

Don't mess up.

Don't mess up.

Please, don't mess up.

Purple went through the motions he'd been trained for, reaching down and taking Sen's hand gingerly in his to draw her up to his lips before planting a quick peck of a kiss to the massive diamond dotting her middle finger before stooping to his knee and pressing his forehead to her stomach to utter a string of hushed Callnowian syllables and words he had never thought he would have to say again but recited flawlessly. Sen nearly swooned with a giggle, chittering excitedly in the back of her throat as she patted him on the shoulder out of approval at his first courtship display and wordlessly signaled for him to stand, leaning in and closing her eyes as he did the same and shattered Red's perception, a deep, utterly disgusting jealousy erupting like a wildfire in every cell in his body as the two shared an obviously forced, but beautifully acted kiss. He wanted to break her fingers when she ran her hands up to lightly cup Purple by the jaw before pulling away with a lovestruck sigh and licking her lips clean.

"Oh, yes, lovely. You're perfect, soft lips and all." She praised, taking him by the crook of the arm and spinning them on their heel almost faster than he could handle. "I would like to ask you and your General to accompany me on a short flight over the Callnowian capitol in my personal ship to show off the amazing ingenuity of what we've built here! I think you'll really like it, Purple!"

Red followed, glancing to Skoodge who shrugged and internally panicked when their plan to enter the capitol together was once again obliterated to be replaced with something unknown and dangerous. They were flooding far too off track for this to be any good, and knowing Sen as the master of deep set exploitation and scheming that she was, this wouldn't be just a fly. No, she would have an ulterior motive hidden beneath her furs, forcing Red to become painfully aware of the boot knife concealed deep along his calf should things get heated. Sen wasn't a warrior, she was a diplomatic expert with a need to consistently come out on top of whatever she was doing, a stunningly attractive puzzle with several deeply ugly pieces missing and kept hidden in her back pocket until the time was right for her to finally stitch herself back together and show the full extent of what her words could do. She was playing Purple, buttering him up with her cooing and teasing brushes of his antennae from where they had taken the front of the group and, Red hated to admit, he was better at method acting then he had expected. If he hadn't come to know the consort over the past six months, he would have definitely believed that he was over the moon and smitten with Sen's advances as he peppered tiny, falsely devoted kisses to her high, sharp cheeks and toyed with the tips of her hair between his claws. It was sickening to watch knowing Purple himself was probably screaming profanities and blistering hatred in his irate thoughts as he worked his own magic, trudging through the snow and laughing teasingly with Sen when she almost slipped on an icy stone on their way to her gargantuan flagship in the near distance.

_Get your hands off of him, you fucking snake._

Red shoved his hands harshly in his pockets as he took his first step into the crunch of now destroyed, once fresh snow before snapping and signaling Skoodge to trail them in the ship from a safe distance for precautionary purposes. He gave a tiny nod before dipping back inside the ship and letting Red work, throwing on his cultivated compliance and digging through his PAK memories for anything he could find of Sen's interests to make their fly a bit smoother. She liked spiced herbal teas and exotic fruits, her scaled forearms were sensitive to the heat and cold, and her fluttering hair was her prized possession and the object of most of her vanity. He watched it from where he hung back, trying not to gag as it wavered and danced in the atmosphere as she glided on light toes and twirled Purple with her, her featherlight locks twisting like appendages to scent at his body and drink in the smell of…oh no.

Red wanted to smack himself for being so careless; he always spritzed his clothes with his cologne when he didn't have access to wash them properly before folding them and stowing them away. Clothing that Purple was now wearing. Clothing that also smelled like Red smelled at this exact moment.

He watched as Sen's hair straightened back out and flopped down against the small of her back as her troop saluted and trudged forward in time, gripping at pistols and spears as they moved to unlatch the freshly painted, glossy black Callnowian Stinger reflecting back the glare of the sun. Red didn't remember this ship. The mockup seemed newer, sleeker, faster, and much more heavily armed with what looked like a cheap knockoff of a powerful Irken plasma canon, leading him to believe that the alliance between Ipi and Del went much deeper than the surface. The Callnowian people had never been technologically advanced to a degree such as this, sporting crude metals welded by hand and bolted with rusted out panels and near shorting pistols fired from the open doors of pitiful ships as their only defense. But now, as he watched Purple ascend the polished steps and extend a hand down to his improvised bride to help her up in her tall violet heels, he was more than uneasy at the persuasive beauty of the sport-like design glaring back and modeling the five pointed star of the enemy. He followed quickly behind, nodding to the stoic guards glaring back at him and hopping his way up the stairs with a quick scale before stopping as the scent of black coffee and dried, candied fruits smacked him in the face. The entire ship was decorated to impress, gold leaf plated into the ornate metal paneling of the interior and glossed with the finest woods chopped from the expansive, never ending wilderness that always seemed to be ominously encroaching around them no matter where they found themselves. A full, shaggy black Plookesian fleece was draped over the chilly floor that kept Sen's opulent heels free from the grating as Purple stooped and planted kisses against her knees and went to unlace them for her, blinking when she ran a swipe of a touch across his cheekbone and shook her head, satisfied when he smiled and abided by her wishes by standing and crossing to the reupholstered safety seats when the ship shuddered and ascended lazily into the frigid air. She sat first, patting the leather next to her and immediately falling against Purple's shoulder with an enamored sigh when he wordlessly obeyed and crossed his legs in time with hers as Red watched in horrified fascination at how well-trained Purple really was at his core. It was like watching a service drone mindlessly submit to every order Del violently barked back across the bridge, Purple's robotic smile terrifying and uncomfortable to watch as Red positioned himself across the isle to watch with skeptical eyes as a gargantuan tray of sugary sweets and health food was moved between them and held by two loyal guards. Sen giggled, letting her long locks smooth back up over the shoulder of Red's suit jacket providing a needed barrier between Purple and Sen's perpetually icy hands as she reached out and plucked a beautifully candied, gooey red fruit from the center of the tray.

"Purple, love, you'll adore it here." She began, glancing up to where Red sat and eyeing him carefully as she bit into the crimson treat and took her time chewing it. "And who is this devilish piece of imperfect skin you've so carelessly brought along with you? I don't like the way he looks. Too...shabby."

Red held his tongue, opening his mouth to speak but immediately falling silent when Sen tutted her tongue in disappointment before shaking her head. "No, no, sweetie. I was asking my fiancé. I don't care to hear the voice of something so ugly."

_Irk, you're so stupid. You really don't know who I am?_

Red masked a snicker when Purple took Sen's free hand and entwined their fingers together, carefully sending a fleeting warning shot Red's way when his snobbish future wife turned to whisper something to the pilot before he bounded back to the cockpit and the ship officially took off. "This, dear, is General Red. He is my personal advisor and…servant?" He wavered a bit, clearing his throat and regaining his confidence to lie after Red didn't seem like he was about to murder him in his sleep for the abrupt rank change. "He will be here with us until we have our wedding ceremony on my home planet. Until that time, I'd love to-"

Sen cut him off with a cackling snort of a laugh and crunched over exaggeratedly through the remainder of her snack. "No, no, he'll have his place but I wouldn't count on him sticking around forever. I'm all you need, now, darling." She beamed when the guards took the tray away before anyone else could have a chance to take a bite, instead bringing her a piping hot cup of coffee in an overly decorative, silver plated mug. "So, tell me Purple, what is your true name?"

Purple hesitated but didn't skip a beat, maintaining his devoted smile. "Nemi. My name is-"

"Nemi?" Sen rolled her eyes and set the cup aside with a scoff, letting a bit of her compassionate air slip. "No, that won't do. That name is absolutely appalling. I'm going to continue calling you Purple and I've decided that's your permanent name now. I don't even want to see it on our marriage certificate so we'll have that legally changed as soon as we get back to the capitol."

Get back?

Weren't they flying over the capitol?

Red glanced out the windshield and felt his spooch drop in horror when he realized they were jetting away from the capitol at an alarming rate towards the very forest they had both crashed in the previous afternoon. Sen had told them she was going to show them the city from above, not take them out into the wilderness with no one else around to hear them scream. He clenched his jaw and respectfully set his hands in his lap as his Elite respirator worked to keep his breathing level and unnoticeable. Don't blow it now. Maybe she just changed her plans was all; Sen had a reputation for being flighty and indecisive, and for switching her desires on a dime for everyone else around her to scramble and compete to fulfill.

Still…something was wrong.

"Purple, I would like you to meet someone I found." She whispered against his antennae, looking up and signaling with her eyes for the one of the guards to go and retrieve their horrific, uninvited guest. "I want our marriage to go off without a hitch, love, and I found this someone lurking where they shouldn't be, trying to undermine everything we want." She waved with the flick of her wrist, her chunky pearls clinking against her scales as the guard drug in a small thrashing sack constructed of impervious Kevlar as someone cried out from within and fought with all their might to try and dig their claws into the sturdy material.

Red stiffened when he recognized the voice, watching in absolute terror as the guard overturned the fabric prison and dumped free a short, bloodied Irken in a pitifully tattered Elite uniform caked in mud and dust, immediately crying out when the prisoner spat a mouthful of bright pink blood back in his face. He jumped to his feet and tried to wipe at his scowling mouth with his handcuffed wrists, accidentally zapping himself with an electric shock from the sensor and crumpling back to his knees with an irate shout of pure rage.

"Zim did nothing! You have no proof!" He turned and glared back in Sen's direction, his expression falling flat when he noticed Purple sitting in his lavish suit at her side being caressed lightly by her silken hair. "You! M-My Taller!" He didn't know what to say at the bizarre turn of events, turning back to Red and growing more confused by the second as Red tried to inconspicuously force him to keep his loud mouth shut. "Taller Red? Eh? You're supposed to be heading to the capitol, not heading a rescue mission for me! I can take care of myself, sir! I have everything under control!"

Sen watched in cruel amusement as Red gave up his front and rested his head in his hands with a low, drawn out groan when Zim proudly let loose everything she had already suspected, shaking her head once more with a merciless giggle. "You see, darling? These two tricked you into thinking they were your friends, rescued you from your awful crash, and were going to destroy everything that we are. I knew that was you the moment Del sent you out to protect my poor husband, Styx, and I saw your photo in the file. Or, Red, I guess. You have that same rebellious look in your eye and that glimmer of filthy hope I tried to stomp out. Too bad I failed."

Wait…she still didn't know Purple was in on their plan? Yes! _Yes_! They still had potential to salvage this mission if Zim kept quiet about what he saw, Red standing and flying forward to clamp a domineering hand over his irritating mouth before he could say any more. Sen's guard flew to attention with a string of ferocious shouts, slinging warming pistols from belts and brandishing powerful spears and blades in his direction as he held firm against the disgusting feeling of his demolitionist's breath heating his palm with moist condensation. Ok…ok…just think. Think!

"Ah!" Red began, trying to sound surprised through his own nerves when Sen stood and motioned for Purple to follow like a pet, reaching out and delicately taking a pistol from the nearest of her troop. "Sen! Long time no see!"

Sen cocked the pistol and rolled her eyes before licking her lips to the intrusion who got away, chuckling delicately under her breath when he and Zim were forced to their feet and the hatch behind them was thrown open in mid-flight, icy gale force winds nearly knocking Red from his unstable feet and flinching when he felt Zim's breathing escalating beneath his hold as they were slowly backed against the now open portal. He swallowed his horror and glanced back to the encroaching treetops, every blow from the previous day coming back as his PAK sparked and tried to slow the rush of adrenaline spiking in his system for what was to come. How did she find Zim? There was no conceivable way she would have known where he was unless she went to check the catacombs themselves and caught him in the act. Did that mean there was something hidden down there they still didn't know about? Why else would she risk dirtying her fanciful clothing? Maybe they were thinking about this all wrong, somehow. If Purple could get into the belly of Ipi's palace maybe he could find whatever it was that Sen had ventured down to retrieve…maybe he could find the five thousand missing souls buried beneath the soil.

"Red, sweetheart, I'm happy you decided to come back to me after leaving so suddenly on our wedding day. You can change your eye color all you want but you have the same delicious smell I adored." She snuck an arm around Purple's and leaned in with a long, teasing inhale as her gun hummed to life. "Did you think I wouldn't remember something so distinctive? Such a pity."

The cologne. Damn. Why did he have to pick something so recognizable?!

Red knew that would be an issue and he should have trusted his gut feeling from the start. He tried to remain in control, squeezing Zim to his body as he prepared for the fall he was inevitably going to have to take as he thrashed in his grip and tried to get away from the threat of death yawning beneath them both. He glanced over Sen's shoulder to Purple, meeting his gaze and talking with his eyes as his heartbreaking fear became palpable between them and an electric current of understanding blasted through their bloodstreams. Purple would have to stay on his own. He would have to let this happen for the sake of the mission and thousands of innocent lives. He would have to fulfill his roles as Tallest, Red cringing and crumpling internally when he realized he would never get the privilege of being someone great, beings someone tall and formidable that he could finally be proud of. He would never be able to look in the mirror and stop seeing a mess of nothing, lost to his ways as a man with two names and two distinct identities never solidified completely and tossed to the knifelike howl of the winter wind zipping by outside to claim him to the elements. He was nothing and he would remain just that…nothing.

"Purple," Sen spoke up suddenly, looking back and tightening her hold to draw him forward, "why don't you prove to me just how loyal you are to our Empire, my love. This will be your chance to propose to me in blood, to seal our futures as the two most powerful leaders in this universe bonded by more than just the love we'll come to have for one another in the future. I can already tell that I'm going to really, _really_ like you and find so many good uses for your delicious DNA." She stretched up on her toes and planted another kiss to his jawline before thrusting the pistol in his hands and helping him to raise his arms when he began to stutter. "Now, now, no need to be scared. I was told you were top of your class in your Irken Academy in marksmanship and it's one of the reasons I picked you. I would love to see what you can do in person."

Purple didn't know what to think, stumbling forward when Sen forcibly positioned him directly in front of Red and his writhing demolition's expert, coiling her arms up to meet his hands when they began to shake and holding him steady from behind as they aimed between Red's wide, accepting eyes. No…he couldn't kill him. He couldn't! There had to be another way!

"Go on and do it." Sen breathed against his skin, pulling away when she was satisfied and moving to sit a few feet away to avoid the spray of vivid pink blowback that would undoubtedly ricochet. "He was a traitor to both of our Empires and a defector from my palace. He defied my mother and your Tallest, Purple. Shoot him."

Purple couldn't look away, caught in the powerful gaze that had saved him the previous afternoon as he struggled with his own slipping consciousness. He had trained for half a cycle to please this monster and in the first thirty minutes of their meeting, she was already demanding he murder in her name? If he shot Red, the mission had the potential to fail completely and the violet eyed rebellion would fall back on the shoulders of the volatile crew he had left behind. But, he would have a chance to restore the sanctity of the movement from within after he completely gained Sen's trust. If he didn't shoot him, Sen would undoubtedly label them both as traitors and kill them all where they stood, again, failing the mission. He didn't know what to do, bouncing back and forth between two appallingly grisly options as the ship circled the vast wilderness below and Sen's claws danced across the leather from behind as her boredom grew.

No.

No.

No.

This was the second time that Red had been at the end of Purple's weapon…but this time he had to pull the trigger.

* * *

Uh oh! Lots of harrowing ordeals happening in this chapter! Will Purple shoot him? I don't know let's find out on Wednesday! Thanks, angels, and have a good morning, evening, or afternoon depending on where you are! I love you all!

HEY GUYS! I'm so sorry but I still have a flu and haven't slept well, so I'm u fortunately extending the posting date again to our next scheduled update on Sunday. It will go up at 10:00pm CDT UTC-5 on Sunday. I'm really, really sorry, and I thought I could make it for noon but I didn't sleep, so I hope you understand and I PROMISE PROMISE PROMISE ITLL BE UP BY SUNDAY. I love you all and I hope you come back to see this evil cliffhanger resolved becaue we gonna have a major character death...that you may not EXPECT :V I love you and please don't be mad! You're awesome angels! I'm seeyou FOR SURE SUNDAY!


	7. Don't Hesitate

Welcome back guys! I appreciate all of your reviews as always and I have a doozy of a chapter for you today! This is gonna be…grisly. Sorry not sorry. As always, I hope you enjoy and it means a lot that you guys consistently like my writing! Thank you so much and shit is about to hit the fan!

ALSO; thank each and every one of you for being so patient with me! I got the flu and I posted an update in the reviews about our time changes, and you guys have been very kind and understanding! Love you so much and thanks a thousand times over!

Song Recommendation for this chapter: "Oh No!" by Grandson (Explicit)

THIS CHAPTER HAS NOT BEEN BETAED. I AM CURRENTLY SEARCHING FOR A NEW BETA READER!

Finally, welcome **SilverSong8** to the follow family, and I love you darling! Thanks for taking interest in this fic!

**Chapter rated strong M for graphic depictions of blood/violence/gore, major character death, minor character death, brief heavy language, perilous themes, past depiction of trauma, and general adult themes.**

* * *

**Three cycles in the past**

Careful fingers creeping along cool titanium stocks, teasing long barrels and fingering sensitive triggers like the caress of a gentle yet infinitely powerful lover looming over the fluttering grass dancing peacefully in the breeze. Purple took a deep inhale, feeling every muscle in his upper body flex as he pressed the smooth metal of his plasma rifle into his rigid, perpetually bruised shoulder, sighing long and low from afar as he eyed his ceramic target through his scope. One and a half miles, a new record if he could obliterate the tiny two-inch plate with a single shot. He'd been practicing rigorously for months, slowly working up to the overpowering skills needed for him to finally enlist as a cadet sniper in the Elite, knowing if he failed his one and only chance he wouldn't have another for over seventy long cycles and would be forced to return to Devastis to retake his basic examinations. He could almost feel it, the overbearingly hot breath of his commanding officer standing careful watch over his progress from behind as he continued to lower himself down at a snail's pace into the tall Irken undergrowth and deep magenta vines, inconspicuously blowing his bushy camouflage from his mouth as he sunk deep enough into the foliage to blend immaculately from a distance.

_You can do this. Focus._

He swallowed and positioned himself, taking another deep, smooth inhale before letting it go as a sudden gust of wind poured overhead, grazing his concealed antennae and deafening him to everything but the delicious thump of his rapid, eager pulse humming beautifully through his veins. He wanted it. He wanted it more than he'd ever wanted anything. He had been promised to Alpha Company, the most prestigious, formidable ground troop in the Irken military, should he pass his examinations in the top five percent, which his commanding officer had all but demanded he do, and he was set to ship off to the Callnowian front in two months if he could prove himself strong and accurate enough as a sniper. He was top of his class, a proverbial warlord ready to reduce any target in his sights to a gooey mess of tendons and unrecognizable flesh, narrowing his eyes as the sun caught his scope just right and he readjusted his claws over the grip, stabilizing himself and feeling tunnel vision creep in when he caught sight of the tiny speck of a plate taunting him teasingly to blow it to thousands of tiny particles.

_Do it._

Something four winged and loud squaked in the near distance, nearly drawing Purple's attention away as he fired on impulse and immediately slumped with a groan of total, defeated humiliation. Shit. Shit, shit, fucking _shit_. That's all he was now….shit. He braced himself to face the gnashing fury of his tall, terrifying commanding officer undoubtedly checking him off the list behind and shaking his head in disgusting disappointment, before freezing when he heard something collide in the distance and shatter. He felt his breath hitch and glanced back up in bewildered shock, squinting across the range then fumbling to raise his rifle to peer through his scope when his eager pulse became erratic and untamed. He tried to locate the target, sweeping the field and narrowing his eyes in awed confusion when he couldn't seem to pin it down, lowering his weapon and flipping the safety before gingerly pushing himself up and shucking his leafy hood to turn face streaked and smeared with camouflaging oil paints and antennae sore to the pressure of his ghillie suit flattening them to his skull for hours on end. He craned them forward, finally locking eyes with his instructor and blinking in unabridged surprise when he walked over and flashed his electronic reader with a deep, ecstatic grin before smacking him hard on the back in elated congratulations. Purple slung the strap of his rifle up around his shoulder and took the vivid screen with shaky hands, feeling his world move in dastardly slow motion as a scream of victory bubbled up in the back of his throat and pierced the insipid light of the afternoon when he realized he'd broken the company record and passed his evaluation, jumping in place and kicking up fallen leaves as he went, taking off to where the rest of the unit rested under an awning in the distance.

"I passed! Guys, I passed!" He jumped again as he laughed wildly through the atmosphere, waving the bright screen and fighting back the beginning fringes of another untamed screech when his company jumped up and shouted back delicious profanities and excited yelps followed by swift thumbs up with a few good colleagues falling in at his side and congratulating him on a genuinely happy loop.

Purple stared back down at the checkmark marking his stunning triumph with a fat grin, reading over his graduation sequence and knowing that his hard work, everything he had done and everything he would do, would now be for Irk. He would live for his home planet, fight to promote the blinding excellence of his people and race, and would die to keep the dream of universal expansion and conquest alive.

"Cadet!" His instructor called from afar, racing to meet them and snatch his equipment back as Purple quickly stuttered out an adrenaline laced apology for rushing off. "I'm passing you and moving you to Alpha Company following your official graduation from the Academy. Good job, and it was a pleasure to watch you come this far." He paused, hesitating a moment then cutting Purple off before he could squeak out another overjoyed laugh. "But there's something I really want you to remember, even if you have proven yourself to be a damn good sniper."

Purple blinked, dialing back a bit of his jubilant fidgeting and nodding for his friends to step respectfully away when his instructor pulled him off onto the sidelines with a deep-set frown. He panicked a bit, running over everything he could have possibly done wrong in the barracks or in weapons training and coming up with thousands upon thousands of tiny, ridiculous mistakes that could all equally be the mysterious culprit, sinking down through his excitement to feel it replaced with something deeper and erroneous he didn't like. He moved to stand at rigid, spine-breaking attention and held his breath when his lanky instructor threw his hands behind his back and clutched at the rubber grip of his reader, looking Purple swiftly head to toe with a nod of approval before relaxing a bit and moving to scan his screen once more.

"Nemi of Veloria you will graduate with commendations and will be transferred to Alpha Company to take on the Callnowian resistance near the outside of the enemy capitol. You will be assigned to said Company as a sniper and will be expected to provide support and aid to those in the heat of battle from the trees, do you understand?"

"Yes, sir." Purple said without a lick of hesitation, listening intently when he realized he may have not done anything wrong in the first place. But, why had the officer pulled him off to the sidelines instead of splaying his scrumptious achievements for every shorter in their class to hear? He wanted to show off a bit, to let them know who was boss, but there was something else…. something.

His instructor continued, running his free hand up over his antennae when the wind tugged a bit too firmly along his sensitive stalks. "But, there's something I want you to remember here, kid. You're a great shot, I'll give that to you, but you hesitated. Why?"

Purple felt a pang of alarm rocket through his spooch and travel up to bloom in his PAK but kept firm and honest in his words, willing his breathing to calm and maintaining consistent eye contact with his superior out of impulsive regard for the rank. "My Taller, I heard something in the distance and I pulled the trigger too soon, sir." He said curtly, afraid of where his supposed failure was going to take him and fearful that it would cause detriment to his graduation. Stupid! He should have trusted his instinct and kept going instead of letting himself falter and squeeze on a whim.

"You look like someone just whipped you across the face. Relax, kid, you're not being reprimanded." His commanding officer chuckled a bit, reaching up and pointing to the long, grisly scar that had matted his left eye shut long ago in an unfortunate Viral Tank explosion. "I have faith you'll be a fine addition to the military and that you'll rise quickly in rank but this," He ran a quick fingertip along the length of his gruesome, long since healed wound, "is what happens when you hesitate. I want you out on the range for the next six hours running drills and if I see you hesitate one more time, you're running five miles. Got it?"

Purple felt the corners of his mouth twitch up into a smile and nodded when a bottomless feeling of pride ricocheted through his thoughts. "Yes, my Taller!" He took off back towards the range, stooping to retrieve his ghillie hood before slinging it securely back over his shoulders and clinking his fingers along the stock of the rifle that had become his best friend.

Don't hesitate. Never hesitate.

* * *

**The present; above the vast, remote Callnowian forest**

_Don't hesitate._

Purple repeated the same, worn out phrase in his mind as Red kept a hand firmly clamped over Zim's mouth, watching as the little demolition's expert squirmed and writhed under the suffocation of his fingers. He had to…he had to shoot him didn't he? Purple flinched when Red gave him a tiny nod to urge him on and let his shoulders slump in the fake pads of his fictitious uniform, the wind whipping him into submission and forming thick ice crystals along his back as he trembled and awaited the fall that would undoubtedly kill them both and finally take him out of his misery before his time. Purple willed himself to calm when he heard Sen stand once more and cross back through the nearly impenetrable wall of guards to wrap her disgustingly long claws around his lithe waist through the stiff fabric of his jacket, leaning forward and resting her chin on his shoulder when her fluttering hair-like appendages swirled at his wrists and snuck along his fingers to where he trembled against the trigger, terrified out of his mind and unable to look away from the equally horrified, but heartbreakingly accepting, profoundly vivid crimson boiling his soul into nothing and beckoning him on like the most gorgeously depressing ballad he had ever had the privilege of tasting.

_Don't hesitate. Why are you hesitating?!_

"Go on, love. Show him who's the boss now." Sen whispered against his antennae, pressing a light, lingering kiss to his jawline and tightening her grip over his ribcage to almost squeeze the precious air from his heaving lungs. "Do it for me and everything we're going to build together, my Tallest."

Purple was sure she could sense the liquid fear pumping like a harrowing virus through his erratic, appalled bloodstream, squirming slightly in her dastardly hold and feeling the nauseating sensation only add to the deathly dizziness swirling in his buzzing, horrendously confused antennae. No. The Control Brains had selected him for a mission he was proud to handle at first. No. Del had given him up as the next Tallest of the illustrious Irken Empire but had taken his free will in return and crushed it while he watched. No. Lire had sexually assaulted him and beat him to a withered pulp of the authoritative, dominant force of destruction he once was. Every time he had hesitated, he had given up his control and his hand to the Irken political system to be passed around like a lifeless, unfeeling husk and turning the other cheek when he was tortured for not picking up a fork right or knowing some one off fact about distant Callnowian history from a timeline he didn't give a damn about. Sen would do the same, tie him up in ribbons and bows and stuff him in a beautifully opulent vision of foreign perfection topped with nauseating lace and deep black ruffles for her to prance about with and use as a DNA farm for whatever the hell her and her monster of a mother were planning.

No.

He couldn't hesitate this time. He wouldn't hesitate this time.

Red blinked in potent unease at what was to come, terrified out of his mind when he noticed Purple narrow his eyes deliberately and lightly mouth something he couldn't comprehend, searching his friend's pale face and feeling color drain from his own in sheets to pool at his ankles. What…what was he doing? He wasn't pulling the trigger?! Why? Everything Red and his team had worked for, every morsel of weighty, pungent information they had scraped together to ensure this mission went off without a hitch would be burned to a crisp in an instant by the one man Red thought he could trust to have enough gall to complete what he was destined to do. He tried to mouth back without being detected, shaking his head in petrified distress as he shook almost violently in his loose boots and struggled to keep up his slipping grip on Zim as he frowned irritatingly beneath his clammy palm and grew uncomfortable from the agonizing sting of ice hitting his tiny body. They would lose their chance to get in good with Sen and lose her trust forever to the monstrous political system raging around them, and Purple would never have the opportunity to find where they had moved the others.

But Purple needed this. He was going to take back control and decide the course of his own life for once.

"You know, _honey_," Purple began slowly, turning slightly with a smile to nuzzle into her cheek as she sighed longingly in praise, "I'm gonna show you exactly how good of a shot I really was. Can I?"

Red let his eyes widen in anxiety ridden fear when Sen nodded and went to giggle out a breathy praise in response, yelping in alarmed, mind-bending horror when Purple reached back in an unexpected, blinding flash and pressed the searing hot barrel of his plasma pistol to her temple, squeezing the trigger without hesitation and blowing her back several feet as her mangled body crumpled to the floor and her deep, shimmering black blood splattered along the once lavish gold leaf of the ship's interior. He fired again, hitting the closest guard square in the chest and grabbing for the sharpened steel of his spear when he slammed into the grate below, spinning on his heel and slamming the blade up into the ribcage of his next attacker as he counted his motions and kicked him back with as much force as he could muster. He shook the shell shocked ring from his antennae and rushed forward when a plasma shot grazed inches from his delicate PAK hardware, throwing his arms wide as Red cried out and immediately felt the air knocked from his hyperventilating lungs when Purple collided with his body, sending the three rocketing through the open hatch and into a deadly freefall as they screamed in tandem. He wrapped his quaking arms firmly around Red's waist and shouted when he lost the pistol to the frigid rush of arctic air, squeezing his eyes shut and trying not to focus on the stomach churning sensation of death-defying weightlessness combined with the splotching of quickly chilling blood oozing through his uniform and staining at his prickling skin. He threw out his PAK legs and nearly went deaf, flipping the three and attempting to raise the surface area of them all to slow their descent as the canopy below encroached like a knife piercing the atmosphere, letting his eyes fly open once more when he heard the telltale sounds of a Shuuver rushing forward from afar to engage, firing upon Sen's flagship and targeting the thin glass of the windshield with brutal canonfire. Red yelled something in terror he couldn't pick up over the howl of the skin destroying snow, quickly realizing what it was when they smacked hard into the first level of the sharp, ruthless treetops, barely catching a glimpse of a heartbreaking, completely obliterating explosion as Lavender Fire's ship ignited and combusted before fighting with flailing PAK legs against the dig and pull of the canopy shredding his jacket to pieces and attempting to latch onto snapping branches and razed trunks. Shards of flaming motherboards and oil splashed through the dry foliage, setting it alight and burning Purple's cheeks as he held firm to the only anchor he had at the moment burying his face into his neck and yelling out his pained terror when Sen's sleek, jet black ship opened fire from above, raining down hell when the three finally collided with the pillowy snow and were set into a roll, a sharp, icy boulder slicing Purple across the face as he coiled his mechanical extensions around his friend and still unknown collegue, crying out at the white hot pain blistering over his eyelid when his vision was blinded by vivid, sticky pink blood. He let go on accident and drew his PAK legs back in, letting Red and Zim roll to the side as he clutched at his face, grabbing a handful of snow and pressing the cool relief into his throbbing, burning eye and tried not to pass out when his vision narrowed and sounds muffled in his now drooping antennae.

He'd prayed for war.

He'd longed for the pain as a cadet.

But this wasn't what he thought it would be.

It wasn't heroic, it wasn't exciting, his enemies weren't fictitious targets in a simulation.

This was real.

Tiny claws dug into his shoulder when Zim hopped to first, reaching out through the embankment and trying to get Purple's attention, fervently barking through the cold and waving an irritated hand in front of his face when he tried to stand but felt his knees weaken and collapsed back down, rocketing to attention when Red bounded over and hoisted him up, smacking him hard across the face and bringing him crashing back to reality when Sen's men opened fire again from above. Zim took the lead, scrambling out of the deep rut they'd landed in and throwing snow back in Red's face as he climbed, earning a few hot grumbles before ducking behind a sturdy trunk as a thunderously horrific, electric blue plasma shot rained down and crippled a line of trees, splintering them to armor piercing, high velocity shards and sending them out like an explosion in all directions. Red reacted first, grabbing Purple by the tie and ripping him back down the side of the steep embankment before throwing his body over his and forcing his oozing face into the snow. He threw his hands over his sensitive antennae as wood and metal alike rained down around them, followed by the voice of Zim calling out from afar and trying to urge them all to keep moving.

Red peeled himself away and immediately grabbed for Purple's arm, dragging him along through his stunned, ringing cognition and trying not to focus on the nasty gouge sliced over his once perfect face, practically hurling him up over the crest and into the completely obliterated, flaming forest before following suit and grabbing for his hand. Purple tried to protest but couldn't, yelping when Red almost pulled his arm from his socket, sliding and slipping around ice covered boulders and sticklike undergrowth to follow the path Zim had cleared for them both, struggling to maintain a steady sprint with his handcuffs digging into his wrists and resorting to moving exclusively on his PAK legs alone for added speed and finally working the intrusive electric cuffs free. Red couldn't breathe against the lung-stinging smoke mixing in with the thick blanket of snow, uncontrollably scanning the debris cluttered skies above for any sign of their ship and feeling his spooch flip when he could no longer hear the powerful, improvised hum of bootlegged thrusters zipping overhead.

No.

No.

No, please, Irk, no!

Where were they?! Red dodged a hidden stump, vaulting over it and happy when Purple still had enough of his wits about him to do the same. He'd watched them take a hit and noticed the cooling unit ironically go up in flames from lack of use, but he didn't see them…go down. Were they…? Could they be…? No, Tak was a fantastic pilot and she would get them all out of this no matter what the cost was with help from Skoodge's fantastic mechanical ingenuity. They would make it out of this alive and get back on track to the mission. The mission? The mission! Purple had…P-Purple had destroyed their chances of completing the mission and finding the missing Irken prisoners they came for by murdering one of the most prolific, powerful women in the star system at the moment. He'd splattered her blood over her own ship, bathed them all in it, and taken out two of her guards before defecting from not only his role as a Callnowian consort, but as a consort for the whole of the Irken Empire. Worst of all, Red knew the guards left alive knew who he was, and it would make it back to Del that he and the others were still alive. He shouted to Zim from afar to slow down, throwing out his own PAK legs and laboring to scoop Purple up when he threatened to go down from the torture of watching his own blood drip down his chin and stain his front to mix with the shimmering black of Sen's, helping him to latch on to his shoulders and holding him firmly by the waist as he sprinted to make up the distance Zim had accidentally put between them.

They had failed.

They had all failed because of one reckless shot and an inability to take control of the situation and think beyond morality. Purple should have shot him. He should have hit him between the eyes and finished Zim off the same before kicking them both out the open hatch to never be found again. He should have married Sen, gained her trust like they had planned, and moved through her social circle to find the thousands of defenseless, imprisoned Irkens that mattered more than making a statement with the tip of a gun. Everything was over…it was over.

"Red, duck!" Purple cried out suddenly in alarm without any warning, yanking him hard by the tattered folds of his thermal sleeve and tugging him to the icy forest floor when he saw Zim hit the deck and withdraw his PAK legs to dodge a massive flaming intrusion rocketing down through the canopy, pressing into his body and squeezing his good eye shut when the booming sound of heat popping through metal careened overhead to split trunks before shaking the ground and sending thick, powerful vibrations through the soil to uproot tiny plants and overturn stones.

Purple groaned and shook the strange feeling of seasick rocking from the back of his swimming, war-torn mind, almost not registering Red's guttural, vicious cries of disorderly terror and the lurid, unruly scrambling of claws attempting to break through the flaming door of their personal Shuuver that had been gunned down and all but destroyed in action. Purple pushed up onto his elbow when Zim came to from afar and scrambled over to help, hooking his strong PAK legs into the hatch and tugging it free to allow Red to fly through the fire to scour for any signs of life before Purple could push to his knees and scream for him to stop.

"Red?" He breathed in disbelief, forcing himself to his feet and finding his depth perception blocked completely as he tripped and stumbled gracelessly about, his PAK beeping out warning after horrendous warning for him to sit and heal but all he could see were the pillars of gruesome, terrifying flames pouring out of the side hatch of the impressive Shuuver he had just been on that morning. "R-Red?! Where are you?!"

"Let him find-!"

Purple pushed Zim to the side, forcing him to the snow as he sprinted and followed, choking and gagging on the rancid smoke filling the cockpit and almost tripping over the still warm, hole riddled body of Skoodge lying on his side against the grating as he stared forward with glassy, unseeing eyes in a pool of his own viscous blood. Dead. Skoodge had been shot to death by cannon fire. Zim followed close behind, grabbing for him and tugging him free to roll him into the snow and examine his lack of pulse as Purple clamped a hand over his mouth to keep himself from getting physically ill on the torturous, overpowering damage that Sen's men had done to the once gorgeous piece of mighty, dominant Irken engineering. Everything was perforated and filled with singed, blackened gashes and razed holes, oil and plasma leaking away to the ground in sheets of volatile energy and combustible danger as he hunted wildly for Red, forcing himself on over blazing seats and registering the faint sound of sobbing over the crackle and warped splitting of rippling titanium.

"Red?!" He managed to wheeze out again, giving a few thick coughs and trying to stabilize himself against the wall, pulling back with a yelp of weighty, sweltering pain when the heat made contact with his sensitive skin and melted the pads of his fingers. He wanted to cry, black carcinogens stinging at his eyes and the unbearable scent of melting rubber mixed with butane invading his senses as he flattened his antennae and finally found the source of the crying, lunging forward and grabbing Red by the shoulder before pulling away in nauseated terror.

He was hunched over the charred pilot's seat as his once stoic, powerful, coy personality was stolen and turned to ash by the blistering fires quickly caving in around them, palms running over the destroyed, mangled cheeks of the furious firecracker of a woman Purple had just met and hoped to get to know as a friend. He turned away and dug his fingers into the seat when he met Tak's lifeless, dull stare, pulling back when he realized it was soaked completely though with her still hot blood from the shot that had all but blown her clean in two through the windshield to reduce her to nothing more than a mess of organs and stray blood cells slipping without a home. The scent of death…this is what war was really like. Purple swallowed hard, his instinct to survive overtaking his need to break down and lose his faculties, grabbing hard at Red as he wailed out his heartbreaking, eerie sobs like a knife slicing Purple from navel to throat and fought against his prevailing grip through the inferno, trying to push him away as he lost his strength to the sight of the dominating, authoritative girlfriend he had still loved deep down and wanted nothing more than to stitch back together, ripping her fictitious, bloodstained rank free from her now absolutely annihilated uniform as Purple growled and gave another tug.

"Red, we need to," He doubled over and coughed through his fading sight, feeling his lungs strain against the dust and heat eating at the back of his throat. "W-we need to leave!" He choked on a cry when the paneling of the ceiling began to crumble, slamming down and blocking them inside the cockpit, their only source of fresh air being the blood soaked crack that led Tak to her untimely demise.

"I-I should have let her go so she could be happy!" Red bawled, tugging away again and refusing to acknowledge the danger. "I-I kept her...I-I kept her here in our stupid relationship because I couldn't let go of what we once had and it got her killed! I should have let her leave in the past, I should have let her fucking leave!"

Purple felt disturbing tunnel vision kick in when his wired medical systems pumped his body full of epinephrine, throwing out his PAK legs and heating his lasers before firing upon the glass of the windshield as Red officially gave up on life and threw himself over the ruined body of his long lost loved one and blubbered nonsensical nothing mixed in with lethal, tragic 'I love yous' whispered on an erratic hushed loop he hoped would somehow shift her internal organs back into place and reattach her bottom half back to the mess of tendons and muscle tissue that had become her once beautiful body. Purple held his breath, rearing back and slamming the heel of Red's dress shoe down against the spiderweb of fractured glass, nearly losing his shaky, precarious footing when it broke out and shattered beneath him, staining the snow below with a pool of Tak's loose blood and glittering with intimidating shards he was sure would cut their knees upon landing. He gave another great, authoritative heave around Red's waist and braced himself along the edge of the windshield as he struggled feebly and attempted to claw his way back to the lost cause he couldn't let slip through his fingers, Purple dropping the few feet down into the snow and dragging him along through the icy pillows as he aggressively screamed before clamping a charred, soot caked hand over his mouth to try and keep their position a secret. Purple glanced behind them and kept his domineering hold on his destroyed friend as he wrangled with his shorting psyche, watching as the cockpit finally ignited and what was left of Tak's body went up in flames. He cried out in shock when Red bit down on his hand and pulled away, attempting to race back before Purple lunged after him and pinned him to the ground, slinging himself over his back as he tried to throw him off in his irrational fugue state, slowly calming to exhaustion and letting his flailing arms fall frailly into the snow.

Purple finally pushed up when he determined Red was too far gone in the moment to fight back anymore, stumbling to his feet and pressing his forehead into the frigid, rough bark of a nearby tree to catch his breath when the gruesome, gory images of Tak and Skoodge's brutally disgusting deaths replayed in vivid detail in his mind. He felt sick, taking a deep breath and wincing with another thick cough when he spat up a wave of ash and soot, his emotions and pain finally catching up to him as he broke down and let a ghastly, terrified tear roll down his stained cheek, gripping at the bark and feeling it peel away under his hands.

Blood. So much viscous, unforgettable blood.

He'd just known those two, meeting them the previous night and looking forward to flying adventures with them as they blazed through their mission at lightning speed and became the amazing war heroes and Irken protectors they all wanted to be. Purple shook his head to himself and took another shuddering inhale, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand when his toes went numb in the thin leather of his borrowed boots and let his antennae flick forward. There was no sound. The skies were empty of canonfire and the deep black treetops were ablaze and littered with jagged, obliterated metal. This isn't what was supposed to happen. He had expected to shoot Sen between the eyes and end the reign of terror she was about to wage through his Empire, save Red and his little helper, and hijack the ship to take them back to the capitol to assassinate Prime minister Ipi and rescue the rest of the Irkens trapped…_somewhere_, beneath the ground.

Now, he was beginning to realize how little he actually knew of proper warfare.

"Y…y-you…"

Purple pushed off of the tree and spun on his heel as fast as he could manage without falling, noticing Zim in the distance hovering over Skoodge's body and shrugging lightly before padding along through the snow to where Red had called out.

"R-Red, it's going to be-" Purple let his eyes fly wide when Red snarled at his voice attempting to calm him down, dashing forward from his bloodstained hide in the snow to land a hard punch along Purple's jaw and knock him back to his side.

"This is y-your fucking fault!" Red followed him down, landing another blow, then another to the same spot as Purple grabbed at his wrist and flipped him, pinning him back beneath his boot and fighting against his vision loss and the horrid ache deep in his bone. "You got them killed, you sick fuck! You got them both _killed_!"

Purple held firm, opening his mouth to speak and accidentally dribbling blood down his chin as he swallowed and pulled away. "I-I…I didn't know that was going to happen! I-I thought we could overtake the ship and go to the capitol and destroy Ipi's mansion or…o-or something!" He retaliated desperately, trying to get Red to see reason and scrambling back through the snow when flashbacks of past trauma simmered up in his PAK, his breathing escalating when Red clenched his fists and threatened to clout him again like the thousands of times Lire had in the past.

Red hit him…he…he _hit_ him. Purple had almost been sure he would be different than the others, with a kind voice and equally compassionate, determined eyes but this; the anger, the resentment, the hatred glaring back at him was the same and only thing he had come to know.

He could never get away from his fate.

"I thought you were one of us! I thought you would be the saving grace I needed to get Sen and that stupid Prime Minister out of power and free our people from whatever kind of torture they're putting them through for whatever damn sadistic reason, but you….y-you ruined everything!" Red brutalized, stalking him like prey as Zim stood panicked on the sidelines and tried to figure out what to do to calm his longtime friend down. "We're gonna die out here and Callnowia is gonna declare war on our fucking planet because you shot the daughter of the Prime Minister! You destroyed my ship, destroyed my life, and more importantly got two of my longest, closest friends _killed_!"

Purple threw his hands up in defense as he trembled below the irate crimson gaze chipping away at his resolve. "P-Please! D-Don't hurt me anymore! P-please don't hit-"

"Shut up! You deserve way more than a punch in the mouth, prettyboy!" Red didn't give him a chance to speak, glancing over when Zim decided to step in.

"My Taller, if you would hear me out I think-" Zim frowned and narrowed his eyes hotly back when Red held up a hand and let a sweltering, tear-streaked growl slip from his lips.

"I don't give a damn what you think, Zim. If you had kept your mouth shut and not gotten caught, none of this would have happened in the first place, you idiot!" Red belittled harshly, turning his attention back on Purple and showing off the sheer desperation of the overpowering hurt flashing behind his ocular lenses and turning grisly and icy with every blink. "I-I thought there was something special about you…I-I thought you would help us end this and figure out what the hell is going on, but now I know that everything I wrote in my journal about you was true. I should have trusted my instinct and gone in with my team by myself and let those monsters have you." He looked him head to toe and paused, shaking his head in disappointment when another round of heartbroken, destroyed tears threatened to take him. "I was right…you're not fit to be Tallest. Y-You're not fit to be anything but a joke to the Empire!"

With that, Red pushed past and refused to make any more eye contact, motioning for Zim to follow and giving up when he didn't. Purple wanted to curl into himself and pass away, slinging his hands over his face when Zim stopped to stoop down and place a gentle palm to his shoulder, tiny fingers massaging into his joint and urging him to look unsuccessfully.

A joke?

Was he a joke?

"Eh, Taller Red gets this way sometimes. We've both seen a lot of death, but this will take a lot of time to get over. Tak and Skoodge were good friends, even if they were idiots." He mumbled, not quite seeing the point to why Red was so upset to lose two liabilities in the first place and viewing life as completely expendable. "Come with Zim. I'm not letting you stay out here by yourself where you can get caught or freeze." He chuckled a bit, trying to coax Purple out of his mounting PTSD episode and frowning in irritation when he didn't so much as budge.

Purple shook his head, wincing and stiffening in traumatized fear when Red barked something from afar. "H-He's just like everyone else…" He breathed from between his fingers, feeling another thin trickle of blood ooze from the corner of his battered mouth. "I thought he was different and would take care of me. H-He promised he wouldn't let anything bad happen to me and that he'd take me…a-away from this place to the Nebula I've always wanted to see but he's just as terrible as Del. He's like the rest of them and he's just gonna hurt me like he just did! He's gonna hit me a-and leave me here and I-I can't do anything about it!"

Zim grumbled in annoyance and hoisted him up from where he sat in a mixture of a depressed lack of will to live and devastated, mind-altering terror, trying to shuck Red's clothing when they made him feel unclean on a soul level and unlacing his tie to throw it to the snow with a shout. Zim fought to keep him in what little protection he had, finally getting him to his feet and helping him to take a shaky step to get him past the bloody, flaming wreckage putting them all on the edge and following Red's footsteps through the snow as he took the lead by himself and continued to cry softly over the rank he'd pulled from Tak's shoulder.

"My Taller, where are we going now?" Zim called nonchalantly through the pained gloom, helping Purple to walk along as his mind betrayed him.

Red hesitated and kept moving. "We're going to the capitol. And then, if we survive, I'm taking him to the damn Nebula and getting him out of my life!"

Zim glanced up with curious eyes at where Purple avoided Red's gaze, reaching down and digging his sharp claws into his tiny shoulder. "Eh, the capitol is miles away, sir." He reminded, trying to squint through a gap in the trees. "It'll be nightfall before we make it and theres….gross things that live out here. And that's putting it lightly, sir."

Red didn't seem to care, trudging on and glancing down with raw eyes to the gold rank he'd pulled from his girlfriend's lifeless body, letting it slip to the snow before continuing his trek. "We're dead men anyway with two Empires coming for us now. I'm seeing this mission through no matter what, and I'm going to kill Ipi and overthrow Del. We don't have anything else to lose at this point." He sighed despondently and felt a hollow pit form in his stomach as he calmed and rapidly flitted through the stages of grief, feeling sickeningly guilty for hitting Purple when it wasn't due. He was trying to save his life, to give them both all a chance and Tak intervened on her own and got Skoodge and herself killed. It wasn't his fault…it wasn't his fault.

Red glanced along the horizon in the distance; it was nearly noon and Callnowian days were appallingly short. They could probably make it to the capitol in a day's time to overtake the mansion, but they would have to survive the horrors of the darkness. He could almost hear thousands of legs skittering through the blanket of leaf litter and dripping jaws scenting the blood against their clothes…if they didn't freeze to death through the night.

"We need to keep moving."

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Damn, this chapter was hard to write! Thank you guys for being so patient with me, and I am over my flu, so I will be updating on regular time now! Wednesdays and Sundays are our update days, always at 10:00 pm CDT (UTC-5)! Thank you for being so sweet and understanding, and I love every single one of you!

**Next Update: Wednesday, January 29, 2020 at 10:00 pm CDT (UTC-5)! See you then!**


	8. Silence Isn't a Virtue

Welcome back you crazies to our next sadistic chapter of Fire in the Snow! Everyone was pretty mad in the reviews during the last chapter, but I promise things will get better. BY THE END OF THIS FIC, WHENEVER THAT HAPPENS, THERE WILL BE A HAPPY ENDING. Red is…an emotional wreck on the inside. Just as much as Purple, and he handles it through anger and masking. I mean, the guy just lost his two best friends abruptly, he's not thinking straight. No pun intended. Our boys will help each other in time. This is a slow burn, so I gotta keep you on your toes, right?

Song suggestion for this chapter: Kill the Lights by (my favorite band) The Birthday Massacre!

STILL LOOKING FOR A BETA READER. FEEL FREE TO POINT OUT MISTAKES. ENGLISH IS NOT MY FIRST LANGUAGE! LOVE YOU SO MUCH AND I'LL EDIT THIS LATER AFTER POSTING! LOVE YOU LOVE YOU!

_**Chapter rated strong M for graphic depictions of blood/violence/gore in the past tense, allusions to mental disorders/PTSD, brief heavy language, light sci-fi horror, perilous situations, suggestive themes, and general adult content.**_

* * *

Frozen. He couldn't feel anything anymore.

Red forced himself to take the lead, trudging with every bit of strength he had left in his depraved, rapidly weakening body as he drew his arms into his chest and shivered weakly in the cold. His thin, sensitive antennae had all but iced over in the horrendously piercing wind wavering through the thickening trees and the light was continuing to deteriorate with every mile they managed to somehow scale without passing out. He had no sensation in his fingers or toes, and his smooth skin was beginning to take on a hint of flushed blue splotched with dangerous violet, alerting him to the dangerous prospect of frostbite. He wanted to stop and collapse, to curl up in his warm mattress aboard the now abandoned Shuuver acting as the final resting place for the two gorgeous, flawlessly flawed souls he had come to cherish over the cycles, but that was no longer an option. Tak and Skoodge were dead, two more dreaded tick marks to the bodycount of the feared, seemingly never-ending Irken-Callnowian Conflict and forgotten to the Irken political system as nothing more than meaningless particles of expendable flesh. They had been ripped from their homes, stripped of their original occupations, stuffed in the back of a transport vehicle with thousands of other lavender eyed prisoners and taken to a place frigid and unforgiving to be sucked dry of the very force of life that made them who they were inside. But, none of that mattered anymore. Red had failed them. He had failed to keep tiny Skoodge protected from the harsh realities and toils of war and he had failed to restore the glitteringly powerful friendship between him and Tak and end the overpoweringly toxic relationship they both tried to make work but knew in the pit of their spooches would never come to fruition. Things had been so simple when they were friends; target practice until dawn on rogue trees as they snickered and laughed at cheesy, pointless jokes, and bouncing, boisterous arguments through the cockpit about Tak's appalling lack of spatial awareness and direction. All it took was one horrendously cold night during their first recon missions on the Callnowian surface, a swig or two of Plookesian whiskey, and an act of shallow lust with an ingrained need to keep warm to destroy everything they had carefully cultivated over the cycles and cherished. It was one drunken slip up, one false opportunity drawing together volatile souls like the opposite ends of a magnet despite the obvious repulsion they had both felt when the fingers of dawn stretched over the hills to illuminate the bizarre mess they had gotten themselves into. They decided to stay together, to make things work because neither of them had ever believed they would find anything else. They were furious, broken messes of lilting ideas and anarchism searching for something neither of them understood, and Tak would never find now that the spark of competition had been snuffed from the nauseatingly dead eyes Red couldn't seem to forget, forcing him to keep thumping along through the snow splitting his skin and making him emotionally numb. She had tried to leave in the past, to give up Lavender Fire as a whole out of fear that Red's own zealous, authoritative nature would get them all killed and work off planet somewhere as a waitress to climb her way to the next society willing to take her.

She was right.

He should have let her go…but now she was gone forever. They both were.

Red kept the lead, unable to meet Purple's gaze as Zim continuously had to drag him along through pillowy embankments and icy ridges, guiding him around gnarled stumps and protruding roots as he stared fixedly at the ground and said nothing for several hours. Red would glance back every once in a while to make sure he hadn't wasted away through Zim's constant, annoyingly incessant recount of his past victories and ego-inflating adventures, feeling another pin added to his regretful, heavy spooch every time he caught sight of his vacant, distant gape or the bloom a bruise festering along his delicate jawline from where Red had battered him in his adrenaline fueled blackout. He hardly remembered anything, holding his longtime friend and screaming violent when he was ripped away from her disgusting, war-torn body before his biological brain went on autopilot and his fight or flight instincts boiled up in his PAK and set him into an automated frenzy of snarls and words he obviously didn't mean but said regardless to provide the most damage he could in the moment. It was only when his mechanical hardware caught up to the swamping tidal wave of unexpected emotion to regulate it and bring him back to some semblance of reality that he realized he had struck the most beautiful, most disastrously innocent, and most dangerously unstable man in the area, dragging Red down into a spiral of self-loathing and heightened, tear-jerking regret. He wished that it had been Zim who had drug him down from the ship, knowing the little guy would have taken the automatic hits and probably punched back to rocket Red out of his mind-bending fugue state, not the vision of perfection he had been captivated with for nearly half a cycle. He wanted to run his hands over the ache in Purple's perfect bone structure, pacify the gradually healing slice over his now matted shut, swollen eye, and hold him close as he muttered sweet nothings and told him just how incredibly special and worth it he truly was.

He messed up, didn't he?

He swallowed another inkling of dehydrated, dry tears and blinked them away, staring up to the skyline over the forested ridge in the distance and growing anxious when he noticed the distant sun he'd come to know on Irk fluttering away in the distance. It would be dark soon, and the shadows brought danger from beneath. He brought his stiff, pained fingers together and weighted his options; the capitol was still over two miles away beyond the peak in the ridge and all they had to eat was a few stray candy bars shoved deep in Red's own PAK and a flask of old whiskey he kept for when the going got rough. He stopped in his tracks and sighed a knowing exhale, annoyed at the pitiful progress they had all made and growing unbearably uncomfortable with the tension hanging like a lead weight between the three. Even if they made it to the capitol in the night, the Callnowians would have already put up their protective, impenetrable dome to drive away the coming gale force winds that would buffet the countryside and the thrashing claws and beating wings of burrowing creatures attempting to escape the terrifying sunlight before they emerge through the gloom to hunt. Red had heard hushed stories of Irken officers going missing in the dense forests of the countryside only to turn up mangled and ripped open by something unseen rummaging through the foliage.

Irk, not thank you.

They needed shelter, and they needed it fast.

Red held out a shaky palm, motioning for Zim to hang back and keep Purple upright when he slipped in exhaustion, growing incredibly concerned about his wavering state of consciousness and knowing he was depleted completely, even if he was giving everyone the stoic silent treatment. He turned back to the forest, flicking on his implanted ocular lenses behind his retinas and blinking them awake as the landscape turned to a pulsing grid of highs and lows similar to a topographic map. Red took a tentative step forward, attempting to move his antennae forward to scent the wind as he scanned for any dip or trench in the snow that could give them some form of shelter to make a fire but failed, a sharp pain rocketing down the back of his skull as he moved his stalks back into their original, seemingly stuck position. He continued his search, ignoring Zim's irritated chattering from behind when Purple faltered again and struggled to keep himself on his unstable feet, his tattered, thin dress suit giving him little protection and sending his lithe body closer to a state of unnatural hibernation. Finally, Red felt his breath hitch when he noticed a cavernlike structure just down the nearest ridge a few feet away, letting out a victory shout at their blisteringly fantastic luck and turning back with a smile to yell out the good news before letting it fade immediately when Purple nearly fell forward out of Zim's already struggling clutch. He yelped and flew down, snatching him by the shoulder as Zim scrambled to jump up and catch him around the waist, unable to reach and letting Red take the full extent of his boneless bodyweight when his breathing slowed to something tame and even and his PAK clicked on to glow dangerously through the encroaching darkness.

Red smoothed a shaky palm up over his icy cheek and searched his face with frantic eyes, careful with the deep, sickening bruise he had inflicted as he felt himself drug into an alarmed panic. "Purple, can you hear me?! Shit…Wait a second I found a cave so just hold on and I'll get you out of here. I've got you, Pur, I've got you and I promise I'm gonna take care of you." He whispered as he watched his faltering, ice-hollowed cognition lapse and his unfocused amethyst eyes roll back in his skull, glancing to Zim and nodding for him to grab him firmly by the feet, gritting his teeth in hot annoyance when the tiny pyromaniac couldn't maintain a grip on his snow-slicked ankles. "Ugh, you idiot, can't you do anything right? Let go, I'll do it myself. I don't want your hands on him anyway." He spat with a bit more rigid overprotectiveness than he was expecting, stooping to readjust his hold on Purple's ribcage and giving a firm exhale before hoisting him up over his shoulder as he went completely limp and still refused to speak besides a few lucidly destressed mutters and slurs neither of them could make out.

Red leaned in and attempted to warm his feebly trembling antennae with his breath as he picked up his pace, growing unnaturally fretful and anxiously disquieted when he caught sight of the thin layer of miniscule ice crystals muffling his protectorate's senses and putting him into a comatose sleep when his PAK beeped out a warning for what remained of his leaking, balmy heat and redirecting it to his internal organs to keep them functional. He was already turning blue without any form of thermal protection, Red cursing under his breath and stopping dead in his tracks as he shucked his respirator to toss it heatedly to the side, working off his thermal undershirt as quickly as his stiff limbs would allow and biting back another yelp when an arctic breeze hit him square in his imperfect, bare skin. He gingerly lowered his crush down and moved to pull his jacket off, unbuttoning his undershirt with mounting unease before shucking it completely and instructing Zim to hold him up at a weak sit as he devotedly tugged the soft, plush fabric over his chest and helped his friend snake his long, lanky arms through, grabbing for Purple's chilly hands and rolling them tenderly between his after he rebuttoned his thin undershirt and jacket around the protective sheeting that would hopefully keep him warm. He slung him back up over his shoulder like a fluttering strip of fabric and continued on despite the burning, prevailing sting dragging over his scarred body like the blade of a perfectly sharp, serrated knife.

"My Taller, aren't you cold?" Zim asked with curious intention, following as they neared the peak of the ridge and watching as Red's jaw locked and every muscle in his body tensed at the ache he couldn't fight away. "Why don't you take Zim's shirt to keep yourself warm?"

Red rolled his eyes and tested his footing, hooking the toe of his boot into a protruding root to lower himself down to what he was hoping was a bottomless cave away from the elements where they could rest and have a bit of protection from the leaf litter monsters that would undoubtedly want to sink their rows of jagged teeth and scaly claws into their cold flesh.

"Zim, you're not even half my height so how the hell would I fit in your shirt? Just get to the cave and gather some tinder so we can get him warm. Now!" He instructed fervently, satisfied when Zim saluted dutifully and threw out his mechanical legs once more, scaling the ridge in a few easy sweeps and kicking aside snow without question to try and find some dry, decaying leaves and wood to throw on their improvised fire.

Red continued down at a gradual, safe pace, holding Purple close to his chest as he tested step after tentative icy step and made his way to the bottom of the shadow shrouded valley, blinking in awe when he caught sight of the yawing chasm split into the planet's side like a gash. It was gargantuan and visually endless, dotted with clear glittering crystal points jutting from overhangs and outcroppings like pointed works of natural art shimmering and dancing in an ethereal display of the prowess of the beauty of their universe. It looked like a towering geode of sorts, tiny flecks of unknown blackness and phantom purples splitting the pristinely clear visage of delicious quartz setting Red's greedy mouth into a feverish water when at the thought of how much money he could possibly make with a good handful of tiny, perfectly formed gemstones on the black market. No, that wasn't why he was here. He was here for Purple and Purple only in the moment hand he needed to get him warm as fast as possible before each and every one of his fingers and toes turned black from a lack of protection. He had been far too sheltered for far too long, his soft skin free of calloused shielding and unable to process the appalling danger of frostbite he was thrown into. Red willed his terrified breathing to calm when Purple tried to brush against his uncovered side with weak, erratic fingers, letting his touch quickly die away as he lapsed a final time and let his forehead smack hard into the back of Red's shoulder.

"Hang on, baby, hang on. We're almost there." Red reassured, squeezing his eyes shut in throbbing embarrassment when the pet name flooded from his lips before he could stop it. Purple wasn't his to call anything, and he had no right to call him something so flippant and sweet after what he had said.

He didn't deserve him at all, and he knew that, but in the moment he had to get him to safety.

He took the final hop down, feeling his overworked rotary cuff strain and catch in his shoulder under the weight of his friend pressing down and forcing his pulse to spike in genuine fear when he didn't respond to the touch of his antennae brushing delicately over his cheek. He was out like a light, a mess of dangling limbs and hastily cooling cells dying slowly on the surface, setting Red into a frenzy as he all but sprinted through the open mouth of the crystal cave that would come to be their temporary reprieve from the wind. Red threw himself down, wincing at the absolutely, unbearably icy quartz hitting his back and sapping away more of his own precious heat as Zim zipped about like a hummingbird and tossed handfuls of dry leaves and sticks into a dip etched deep in the crystal, gingerly moving Purple into his lap and cautiously drawing his knees up to cradle him to his chest. He reached for his rigid arms and rested them in his lap, running his thumbs over his knuckles before bringing his fingers to his mouth and cupping his hands against his lips to breathe life back into them. He didn't let up, rubbing at every bit of exposed skin he could find to stimulate his thermals to take over and generate small amounts of comfortable, soothing heat, only glancing up from his horrified endeavors when Zim ignited his now built up pile of goodness with a PAK laser, setting it miraculously ablaze with a miniscule spark and fanning it with his hands until it grew to a sweltering heat and radiated outwards beneath them all to penetrate the crystal and bring it to a phenomenal, inexplicably unexpected temperateness that Red hadn't been expecting. The effect was immediate, radiating over his back and swallowing him whole in a cozy, pleasantly heavenly glow that made him want to cry. The luck they'd had in finding a place like this was astounding; it would be perfect to wait out the terrors of the dark in and the quartz was impenetrable from below, meaning if they were to be under attack, Red would definitely see it from the mouth of their stronghold. He crept to his knees and cautiously drug Purple's flaccid form to the crackling fire, laying him down sympathetically and reaching out with a curious hand to make sure the flames were just close enough to kiss at his once perfect skin and give him the attention he deserved more than any of them. He smiled in faint relief when he noticed the warning glow in his PAK flood away to a faint glimmer with every passing minute, positioning himself fondly alongside his now subtly shivering friend and turning to stare out at the now gloomy dusk encroaching rapidly on their stronghold.

What awaited them out there?

It was only a matter of time before it made itself known, and Red was determined to fight back whatever decided to wander in and harm what was left of his crew.

They sat for a few hours filled with Zim's frustratingly boisterous voice, Red finding some semblance of relief when he finally talked himself down into a deep, exhaustive sleep and drooled against the hard flooring beneath him like it was the softest mattress on the planet. Gross. Red had reluctantly left the two a few times for more firewood, hunting through sheltered places the snow hadn't touched for tiny logs and sticks before returning and stoking the fire with an improvised poker he'd made from a few old twigs mashed together, turning the main kindling every so often to keep the powdery ash from suffocating their only lifeline. Purple had curled into himself some time ago as Red sat by with his boot knife clenched firmly in his fist and stared into the unnervingly peaceful darkness, his thawed antennae twitching and flicking into every minute sound or heavy breeze gushing through the hillside above. Thank Irk they had made it here in time to escape the storm now raging like a howling demon outside, huge flakes of frozen chemical snow pelting the countryside with its callous, unforgiving embrace as they rested snugly within their cosmically beautiful geode prison and waited for the long night to draw to a close and grace them with the much-needed laughter and tranquility of the sunlight.

Red labored to stay awake, catching himself when he nodded off and let his knife clank to the quartz beneath him as he jolted at the sudden sound and rocketed back to life. He glanced about, sighing long and low when his pulse lurched and he ran a palm up over his antennae in an attempt to rid himself of his nerves. He needed to relax for the sake of their half-obliterated mission and the safety of them all, looking back over his shoulder to where Zim lay sprawled out like an Irken rug ready to be stepped on. He was a menace and a complete buffoon, but he was decent at what he did and they would need his perilously wild explosives expertise and willingness to take harrowing risks if they were to break into Ipi's mansion. Red was surprised that the dictatorial Prime Minister hadn't sent anyone out to retaliate, intermittently scanning what he could see of the stars for any signs of military ships or movement but only catching sight of the welcoming arms of the galaxy their planets unfortunately had to share, stretching above like messy glitter tossed to felt. Everything was too hushed; the forest under the gale was stagnant and slumbered, there were no powerful thrusters zipping above them and laying waste to the trees with sizzling plasma, and there was no domineering crunch of heavy combat boots crunching through the snow. It was almost as if they were completely alone out here, transported to an alternate reality through a phantom wormhole they had unwittingly tripped through and thrown into the midst of a war that Red was beginning to fear that they would never win.

He'd given up his life, his eye color, his skin, and his friends for his cause. He'd asked Purple to marry the woman he detested to use him as a spy and an information hound to sniff out clues for a cause he'd been thrown into days in advance that he had no idea was even coming to fruition.

Were the five thousand Irken prisoners even alive anymore?

Red scanned the gentle rise and fall of Zim's chest as he breathed and twitched aimlessly in his unknown dreams, flipping onto his stomach and folding his arms into his sides as he mumbled something crossly to himself and dozed away once more to the gentle cradle of sleep. He hadn't said anything about what he'd seen in the catacombs of Ipi's personal estate besides what was in his report, and if he had found anything suspicious, Red was going to have a serious, drawn out talk with him when he woke at first light.

"Red?"

Soft, tentative, uneasily shaky.

Red swallowed and froze, tightening his grip painfully around the steel handle of his knife before reaching for the canvas sheath and concealing it away to make himself appear as least threatening as possible. He didn't want to turn and face the music of what he'd done, knowing in the pit of his soul that the twinge of fear in the tiny voice calling out to him was his own doing and his alone. He'd rocketed the man he secretly adored into a state of unrest and self-hatred once more, drawing him down into a freefall of terrifying emotions and flashbacks, snapping at whatever steel had built itself up around his heart and stabbing through every artery in his body to render him helpless. He was so loving and innocent, yet so tainted by the controlling hands of society. He was so courageous and intelligent when he wasn't thinking about the agonizing traumas he'd undergone, stomping on every peak of hope he clawed his way up to and throwing him back down to a desolate low as he drowned in his own austere loneliness. Red had been that heavy boot that had kicked him from the side of the mountaintop he had been brave enough to scale with the heroic murder of Sen and the saving of his own life, firing back upon him as he fell and hit every jagged insult on the way back down to his doom.

It wasn't his fault. It would _never_ be Purple's fault.

Tak's heated, gung-ho nature brought about her end when she intervened against Red's orders for her to trail them from afar, undoubtedly letting her irate fury get the better of her as she screamed out her shattered, overstated anger from behind the glass of the cockpit and let it blind her to her death. She had killed Skoodge and herself, not Purple.

Not Purple.

"Um, why are you half naked?" Purple's hoarse voice sounded again from behind as he ventured a bit more audacity with his sentences, music to Red's antennae yet hauntingly depressing at the same time. "Aren't you cold?"

Red took a shuddering inhale when his nerves spiked and finally turned, looking Purple over from where he lay in his jacket on his side and stared on with his good eye through the amber, welcoming light of the fire and glanced away when their gazes locked. He slid over, careful not to tear his pocket on a tiny crystal when it caught and stopped short as Purple flinched in unnerved, disjointed trust, shuddering back a bit on impulse and gripping at Red's throbbing spooch when he bit his lip and lowered himself down a few feet away.

"I'm not cold." He replied simply, not registering the crack in his own voice. "You went into mechanized hibernation when your body shut down so I brought you here and Zim started a fire to keep you warm." He breathed, careful not to wake up the ticking time bomb slumbering several arm's lengths away. "H-How do you feel?"

Purple rolled onto his back and stared up at the immaculate display of crystal towers and stalagmites yawning down like stoic ice suspended in time, trying to open his other matted eye and bringing a palm to his puffy lid when he couldn't. "I'm fine." He said with equal emptiness. "I'll be fine."

Red shook his head, digging his cheek into the crystalline floor beneath him and dug his claws into the hem of his leggings. "No, you're not." He whispered painfully, forcing himself into the conversation he needed to have to make everything right. "I'm sorry…I-I'm so sorry, Purple. I didn't mean anything I said and I didn't mean to hit you like that I prom-"

"That's what you all say." Purple growled back, finally meeting Red's look with a dark, disturbed ne of his own. "You think you're something really special, huh? Think you can just hit me and shimmy over here to apologize like it never happened and I'll come crawling back to you like your sweet little toy? You're disgusting, Red."

"N-No! I-I don't see you like that!" Red hissed back through the dark, urgency blooming in his chest and spreading to every nerve in his body to scream like a thousand voices telling him to run yet gluing him firmly in place. "I've never seen you as anything but a strong man who got into some deep shit. A-And that's not your fault, and it wasn't your fault what happened to Tak and Skoodge either, and I'm so, _so_ sorry I hit you."

Purple let out a tiny scoff of a laugh and crossed his arms over his chest as he listened to Red's pathetic pleas. "Listen to yourself. I haven't personally known you for more than two days now and you're already reduced to begging for my forgiveness? What the hell is wrong with you to think that I'm that gullible?" He moved back to his side, sneering when he caught sight of the look of pure terror flashing behind Red's ocular lenses and unfeeling in the moment. "You trailed me for six months so you know how many times I was hit with, let's see," he paused to condescendingly tick off the myriad of times he was clouted by Del's advisory team, "fists, rolls of paper, belts, spoons, boots-"

"No, no I know you're right! Y-You're right!" Red threw his hands over his face when he felt every threat in his psyche unravel simultaneously and fall away to nothing. "I'm sorry! I-I'm sorry, Purple! I should have been there for you and stepped in when I heard them attacking you for things that weren't even your fault and I should have broken every bone in Lire's body before he could touch you like he did and I feel guilty for it every day of my life! I hate myself for not being there for you, even if you didn't know me, and for following a stupid ass mission while you went through literal torture!" Purple settled back down and blinked in shock at the desperation in Red's once overpoweringly confident voice, opening his mouth to say something but cutting himself short when he continued. "T-They never touched me when I was being groomed for the Flesh Treaty because I fought and they were terrified of me, but…b-but…I-I think that's why they were so harsh on _you_. Del couldn't risk another consort running away and causing trouble so he tormented you into nothing and broke you over and over again until he could play with you like clay! It's _my_ fault t-they hurt you!"

Purple didn't know what to say, staring over Red's shoulder at the long, extensive apology and realization he had never expected to come to. Red was the…reason they were so harsh? No, that wasn't right and Purple knew it. Del, Lire, and the others were inherently cruel and would have attempted to harm him regardless of Red's accidental involvement or need to rebel against the system.

"Red, that's not your fault." He said slowly, still irritated and unnerved by his presence but warming up to the idea of having him close once again. "You didn't make them do anything and they chose to do what they did by themselves. Whether you were Sen's consort first or not, when Lire was assigned to the cabinet, he would have…um…done what he did regardless."

"T-That's not the point! I should have stepped in and helped you but I hung around in the shadows and literally did nothing! I did absolutely nothing and I what I said out there when the Shuuver crashed was wrong! I let my own emotions get the best of me and I took them out on the first thing I saw and that happened to be you." He sniffed from within his fingers and let his antennae droop back. "I can never forgive myself for doing that and I don't expect you to forgive me either, but I want you to know that you're not a joke and you'd be an incredible Tallest. Way better than I ever would be."

Purple reached up with hesitant fingers and rubbed at his still sore jaw in the renewed heat of the moment, cursing under his breath when he realized how deep Red had clocked him. "I'm still pissed off and a little shaken up, idiot, but…I'm sorry for what happened to your friend and your girlfriend. I didn't expect any of that to happen and I probably would have done the same thing if I was in your shoes." He chuckled nervously and swallowed lightly when Zim shifted in his sleep to their escalating voices. "Stop moping and…well…I just need some time to get over what you did. It's not gonna go away for a while and I can't just forgive you on the spot like that." He remained firm with his wishes, watching as Red peeled his tear sticky fingers away from his eyes and nodded in stunned disbelief. "You look gross."

Red nodded to himself and flashed a weary, strung out smile back. "Eh…yeah. I probably do, don't I? You look gross too." He poked Purple back in the ribs and grinned when he batted him firmly away. "Too bad I don't have any of that ointment that heals scars. I could have fixed your eye for you but it was in the Shuuver."

Purple shuddered when Red tentatively reached out, running a delicate thumb along the healing, thin cut slashed over his once perfect skin, searching his face for a long while as he gently brushed against his sore jawline.

"Red? Are you…are you ok?" He mumbled in response, jolting a bit when curious fingers trailed delicately along his cheekbone to land softly against his lips.

Red lingered there a moment, grazing a thin cut along his bottom lip before taking a deep breath, squeezing his eyes shut and leaning forward faster than Purple was expecting. What? What?! What was happening? He was coming closer. He was coming so much closer so quickly and he didn't have any reason too…did he? Purple hesitated and leaned back, trailing away as Red continued to inch forward, feeling his pulse skyrocket to something unheard of and unseen as he half choked half stuttered out a hasty no and grabbed him firmly by the face to stop the advance he wasn't ready for. Red's eyes flew open in utter horror and met Purple's flushed, deep pink cheeks, watching as he tried to say something but couldn't and forcibly pushed him away with a bit more strength than he was expecting.

Red immediately collected himself and turned away, scrambling in a hot fluster for something, anything to say that could make up for everything he'd done as Purple sat dumbfounded in a terribly, gut-wrenching silence, almost catatonic and unable to look away as Red hopped up and took off out into the cold.

"R-Red?" He scrambled to push himself up, finding his depth perception stolen once more. "R-Red?! Wait!"

Red didn't listen, slogging out into the snow as his spooch flipped and his mind fogged, his pained gait taking him on to somewhere unknown he didn't understand and didn't want to. He swallowed thickly when his knees threatened to give and he stammered hot curses deep in his irate, untamed mind. No….no….no. What was wrong with him?! First he hit him on accident and then he went in for a damn kiss?! He lowered himself down in the snow when he felt sick, shaking the feeling away and freezing when he heard something buzz from the darkness above, claws raking along branches and eating away at tender bark as it dropped in clumps around his unprotected shivering form.

Two clear wings, one proboscis, eight fantastically terrifying legs.

Shit.

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Oh boy what is the monster? What is it you ask? You'll have to find out for our next update on;

_**Sunday February 2, 2020 at 10:00 pm CDT (UTC-5)! Thanks!**_


	9. Boundaries Made, Boundaries Destroyed

Welcome back to this incredible episode of Fire in the Snow! I hope you guys are ready, because this whole chapter is gonna be fast, erroneous, and Red is gonna get a serious talk. As always, I appreciate you more than anything and I really enjoy all of your reviews, and hope that you are continuing to enjoy this strange little piece I've created for you all! It's to the point that I remember everyone's usernames now and I get super excited when I see you all come back! Have fun and I love you angels!

CHAPTERS ARE STILL UNBETAED. I AM STRUGGLING A BIT TO FIND A BETA READER, AND IF ANYONE WOULD BE INTERESTED YOU CAN DM ME ON MY INSTAGRAM AT CHARLOCATTY, OR YOU CAN SEND ME A MESSAGE THROUGH HERE! THANK YOU! ILL BE EDITING THIS MYSELF SOON FOR MISTAKES AND GRAMMAR!

I have no song suggestion for this chapter! If you guys have one, leave the name and artist in the comments and I'll pick one or two and put them here!

**Chapter rated M for graphic depictions of blood/violence/gore, allusions to mental disorders/PTSD, brief heavy language, potential suggestive themes, and general adult themes.**

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Red was an enigma. Purple hadn't known the guy even three days and he was already…? No, there was no way he read the situation right. He must have overanalyzed the moment and overreacted to something that definitely couldn't be there. Red was powerful, authoritative, and cockier than anyone Purple had ever met, and a guy like that could never be…_interested_, in someone so broken and ripped to shreds by their past. Sure, he had undergone the same fate and had been strapped to the wall beneath Ipi's capitol building, had been engaged to marry the now obliterated face of Sen, and had overcome every torture he had but he was still so resolute in his ways and courageous to face the world. A man like that could never love a shell of a cadet drifting without purpose or emotional control through the snow. A man like that could never hold him through the night and keep him warm with his cozy body heat and smooth, luscious scent. Red had just lost his longtime girlfriend to the horrors and grisly bloodshed of war and devilish corruption; he was grieving and not in his right mind, swimming in a pool of his own spiteful tears and clinging to the only living being he could find in the moment…right? He just needed a reassurance, a bit of a push in the form of friendly affection to keep him upright and raring to complete the complex, horrendously unforeseen dangers their improvised mission was now bringing and shoving so far down their raw throats they choked on their own dastardly inconvenience. That was it.

That was it.

Purple stood dumbfounded at the mouth of their sheltered, glittering geode, clutching at the wind whipped outer quartz with shaky claws as he stared through the white out of a blizzard his new friend had escaped so suddenly through. He glanced down to Red's grey undershirt clinging to his narrow chest and winced at the sting in his still hazy, healing vision, giving a final look over his shoulder to where Zim slumbered peacefully near the crackling, life-giving inferno before taking a tentative uneven step out into the unknown.

Why?

Purple hated that question. It was always open ended with millions of potentially damming answers he never understood no matter how many he repeated to himself on a hushed loop at night. The snow was absolutely frigid, a gust of heavy wind slamming hard into his side as he yelped violently and lurched to keep himself planted firmly on his feet, shielding his unprotected face against the gargantuan flakes of snow and ice pelting his cheeks from the branches above. Why did he care about someone who had hit him? Red had beat him in the face in his terror-fueled fugue state, taking out his hollow, agonizing sobbing in the form of brutal aggression against his skin and rocketing Purple back into a state of cowardly terror and cognitive disarray. He knew Red didn't mean it in the moment and truly was sorry, as evident of the blubbering, tear-streaked apology stammered sincerely through the dark as he opened up and showed his true anxieties for the first time since their meeting. But still, he had promised that he would keep Purple safe and he had gone back on his coveted, cherished word and gentle disposition to show a disgusting vision of nightmarish hatred boiling just beneath the surface, setting the hook of distain in Purple's spooch and tugging him miles away from the warm body he thought he could eventually call his own. Now he wasn't even sure if he wanted it.

So…why?

Why was he risking his delicate life, half blind and confused as to where his disturbed bearings were in the whiteout as the fire faded behind him and left him completely in the darkness, for someone he had no interest in as a friend or anything more? Unless, in some demented, twisted way, he was captivated completely by Red and his overpowering antics pushing him to his own dangerous edge. Maybe he was mystified with the way he chattered on and on without stop, maybe he was entranced by the deep round scent perpetually clinging to his clothes, maybe he was transfixed by the spark of sheer, unabridged determination in his chemically changed eyes glaring back at him through the dark like two crimson, glowing coals. Purple pushed on, attempting feebly to bat away the shower of ice chilling him down to his bone and feeling his already escalating pulse leap into his throat when he realized how horrendously frozen Red must be out here by himself. He was a total idiotic mess of nerves and bad habits, but Purple still had to get to him. There was something buried deep in his psyche, despite how little he knew about the perplexing paradox of an Irken melting at his inhibitions like an acidic corrosive, that drove him on to know him deeper and to figure out what he wanted in life. He wanted to know Red's true aspirations, his hobbies, every tiny nuance in every one of his laughs and every streak of his hot, glittering tears that painted his cheeks with horror. He wanted that, and he hated himself for it. He'd never wanted that…why? Why now? Why him? Why _any_ of this? He still wasn't ready for any of this and couldn't stand the thought of Red placing his hands on his body or smearing their lips together, nearly gagging in the snow as he kept up his horrendously knife-like trek through the danger of the night and followed the faint inklings of cologne snatching at his ice encrusted antennae and drawing them forward against his will. This was it. He was it.

Red was it.

What was 'it,' Purple didn't know. All he knew was that the eerie, uncanny phrase was stuck on repeat in his mind despite the terrifying lack of lurid bravery he felt in his spooch or the appallingly low self-esteem digging into his skin to aid in the cold's efforts to peel him away and shred him to nothing. Red was it. He was it and that was all he needed to know, even if he didn't truly want it. He wanted it, yet didn't. He hated him, yet appreciated him. All he knew was that he was confused beyond belief.

"Red?!" Purple called out into the deathly shadows, craning forward in a panic for any sign of movement and cursing under his breath when his skills as a cadet failed him. "Red, where are you?! This isn't funny, dumbass!"

The weather was far too dire and thick, muffling every hitch of his ragged breath and crack of his excruciatingly stiff joints straining to keep him moving against the painfully unsympathetic atmosphere for him to hear anything else outside of the howl and scream of the wind. Was it the wind or was it his friend? Was the crackle of ice beneath his scuffed dress shoes truly the winter crushing beneath his soles or the snap of bones in the near distance as Red was reduced to nothing more than a pile of rubble by an unseen force of malice? He couldn't tell anymore, alarm sparking deep in the pit of his stomach and boiling up in the back of his throat as he panted and willed his rapidly unraveling psyche to calm, thoughts racing in tandem and stacking on top of one another to create a mangled mess of syllables that no longer made any lick of sense. He wanted to scream, to yell out his terror and hope for a response in the form of a protective, all-enshrouding embrace or a gentle, tranquil word thrown back in his face to clout him with affection and kindness instead of the domination he had come to be used to. He wanted Red to waltz out of his snowy prison and take him by the shoulder to expertly guide them back to the mouth of the shielding, motherly geode they had somehow managed to locate and sleep the night away until they could continue their starving, dehydrated walk the short distance they needed to the capitol. He was so blindsided and confused, swallowing against the raw ache in his jaw and the now frozen, encrusted blood caking down his cheek from his mangled eye as he mumbled half-hearted incentive to himself to keep going, trying desperately to find a reason that his colleague would be stupid enough to leave by himself.

Did he have a death wish?

Why was he so upset when Purple pushed him away?

None of it felt right, yet it all felt familiar in an odd, astringent way. He couldn't place why exactly, or how he knew that feeling of rejection, but he did. All he could remember were the two long cycles of body-razing torture and appalling emotional torment he'd been forced to take like a pill he couldn't choke down, forgetting most of his murky, supposedly happy social life in favor of the conditioned thought processes now cluttering his PAK hardware and requiring him on instinct to behave as a drone, a numbed slave to the world and meant only to serve. He didn't want to serve. He wanted to serve himself and relearn what it meant to be happy and jovial, what it meant to be touched on the back of the hand without being struck, and what Red's strange, unnerving reaction to his rejection meant. Was he sad? Was he sad that Purple didn't want him? But he was just seeking flippant affections to fill the hole Tak had left behind in her unfortunately untimely death. She was his everything, supposedly, and she was supposed to be the one he loved above everyone else, so why was he so put off by a simple _no_?

"Red?!" Purple called again with a bit more urgency, slipping when his heel landed on the slick surface of a frozen boulder, scrambling blindly to grab for a tangle of ropy vines hanging above and providing him a bit of unstable support when he felt a pang of dread overtake him once more. "Red, please! I-I'm sorry I said no and freaked you out but you have to stop this stupid game and come back to where it's safe! Who knows what's out here!"

Silence.

Frightening, mind-bending silence.

Trees bending in the gale, ice crackling down the ridge, Purple's own pulse pounding in his overstimulated antennae. Then…hands.

Hands? Hands!

Purple yelped and tugged away when six fingers landed firmly on his shoulders, tugging him back with an excessive amount of force and causing him to land hard on his side and tumble into a vicious roll he wasn't prepared for. He fought, swinging blindly at the intrusive, indistinctive enemy overpowering and clamping a blackened, blood-smeared hand over his hyperventilating mouth to stain his tongue with the metallic taste of liquid life, missing in his terrified fervor and resorting to kicking wildly at the snow to bat fluffy ice crystals high into the air. He squeezed his good eye shut, coughing thickly at the rancid taste of blood flooding over his teeth as his attacker's grip weakened slightly with woozy blood loss and pulled back, instead pressing a single finger to his trembling lips to frantically urge him to keep quiet out of overwhelming terror that something might hear. He took a deep, shuddering inhale at the feeling of a clean, icy hand brushing soothingly down the side of his face and eating away at his terror in favor of a tiny bit of tranquility. He gradually opened his good eye, locking his gaze with the sweltering crimson of his friend's medically induced beauty and going to yell something out before rapidly deciding against it when Red wavered and struggled to stand, hoisting himself up and almost collapsing back to a pathetic heap of chilled flesh and brittle bones, his PAK glowing vibrantly through the gloom and illuminating his paled, blue cheeks with sickly shades of dangerous, medically sapped hues alerting Purple to the worst.

He was fading, and he was fading fast.

Purple reached out and snatched at Red's rigid, quaking shoulder when he tried to double over, clutching with a silent cry of agonized, white-hot torment at the clean pierce in his right side, just missing his lower spooch but enough to make him want to rip his flesh from his bone and stop the terrifying, mind-bending pain from radiating up the back of his spine. He was in dire need of medical attention, Purple immediately recognizing the wound type as a profound, deep puncture from his time in the field of biology, a single long strike to his calloused, scared skin to break away capillaries and lap up a bit of sugary, iron-laden Irken blood through what he was assuming was a needle-like proboscis of some sort. He reached out and slung an arm under Red's when he bit down on his lip and erratically pulled his hand away, somehow managing to stay stoically silent through the torture as he clenched his free hand until he went white knuckled and leaned his heavy bodyweight into his friend. He was shivering violently from a mixture of sickening shock and arctic wind, his skin turning insipid with every forced step he had to take to keep himself from falling flat in the snow, leaning on Purple and staining his jacket a deep, rosy pink with gooey gore that froze completely on contact, caking them both in disgusting arrays of body fluids and gelled distress.

Purple reached up and tried to scrape his weakened friend's blood from his mouth, flicking it off with a disgusted shudder to the ground as he half drug him through the short walk they needed to take through the sub-zero temperatures to get back to the shelter and safety of their stronghold. He needed help, and he needed it now, needed to get out of the terror and fear of the night slicing his already imperfect body to pieces and laughing sadistically over the thunderous expulsion of flurrying madness swirling around them like a taunting dance. Still, Purple kept on, going into instinctual overdrive as blurry tunnel vision set in and his body drove itself, piloting every finger and toe of his chilled form to keep slogging for the sake of the idiotic, confounding individual he both hated with every fiber of his heaving chest and adored with every swipe of his palm soothingly over his trembling shoulder as he lulled and bounced between states of septic, putrefying perception. He readjusted his grip and bent down, sliding Red's boot knife from its canvas sheathe to protect them both against whatever was lurking ominously through the darkness and keeping them prisoner until the first light of day, jolting with a yelp of festering terror when he noticed the faint flap of a jittery buzzing rebounding between trees and scraping with long, serrated claws against craggy branches. Shaved bark fell to his feet in chucks, scattering and pitting the snow with worrying holes as Purple labored to keep himself focused on getting to the near-impenetrable quartz for Red's sake, annoyed out of his mind that he had to continuously save the anarchist freak from his own wrongdoings and ridiculous failures and shaking his head to the idea that he would be dead would it not have been for the caring touch of Purple's fingers stamped over his side to stall the gangrenous bleeding oozing between his digits and warming his hand to an horrific temperature. Red pressed his cheek against his and gritted his teeth panting through a cold sweat when Purple helped him down the steep embankment he'd scaled towards the shimmering geode and the soothing fire he would need for his body to mechanically administer painkillers from his frozen technology and heal through the long remaining hours they had in the blackness.

A little more. Just a little more and they would be safe.

Purple gasped when he caught sight of Zim twitching in his sleep several yards away, crying out for help and blindly screaming his wildly hoarse, disillusioned rage when the wind picked up just as his voice left his lips to cut it off completely and send it careening into the distance to ring out elsewhere. He hated this planet. He hated this grotesque planet with every fiber of his mind and soul.

"Zim!" He tried again, turning into Red's cheek and forgetting the intimacy he wasn't allowed to have as their bodies touched and relied upon one another for what little balmy heat they could find. "Zim, wake up and help me get him inside before we freeze to death!"

Zim didn't respond, out cold in a peaceful, annoyingly undisturbed slumber as the two toiled through the last few feet of horrifying ice and skin melting, resentful winter threatening brutally to claim them and freeze them where they stood into works of modern art. No. No, no, _no_! This wouldn't be how Purple would go out of this callous universe; stuck in the arms of his dying colleague, caked in his blood and blind to his lustful fantasies hovering just beneath the surface of his taut skin. He would go out fighting on his feet with a plasma pistol in his hand as he raked through the enemy, just as he envisioned. He would die a hero, not a weakling. Just a little more and they could fall against the humid warmth of the quartz heated to scrumptious perfection. There was just a little more and he could figure out how to keep Red comfortable until his PAK could automatically kick his cell growth into overdrive to lace his wound together into the grisly, deeply unforgettable scar he knew his friend was going to have. He blinked away the dryness in his violet eyes and cried out sharply when Red all but collapsed and landed on all fours to grip wildly at handfuls of snow, retching repulsively and spitting up a tiny wave of vibrant blood to his fingers as he shook and took a deep, guttural inhale, cursing to himself at the awful taste before struggling back to his knees and reaching out for Purple's reassuring touch in the callousness of the natural world as an anchor to his own mangled, petrified thoughts.

He felt terrible, nauseated, and pathetic, grabbing at Purple's petite hipbone for leverage as he struggled to keep his bearings in the shimmering white out slicing through the darkness and transporting them into another dimension entirely. He coughed again, turning away as he choked on his own near dry tongue and shuddered in repulsion to the feeling of swaying he knew wasn't there but felt regardless, unsure if the world itself was tilting or if he was merely lapsing in consciousness for a second time as Purple caught him from planting face first into the gory embankment. The two finally reached the mouth of the cave, Purple dragging his friend towards the still roaring fire heating the sharp, cosmic crystal radiating around them to a delicious tropical temperateness, lowering Red down as he curled into himself and shivered ferociously when the hydrogen full snow melted and stung at his skin to mix in with the pool of blood forming beneath him. Purple flew down, working off his jacket and ripping an expensive sleeve free as he threw out a PAK leg and shook his head in exasperated alarm when he realized he'd have to do the same procedure he'd done when the two first met and melt the wound closed before Red lost too much precious blood. There was no way he could survive on PAK technology alone with a gash that horrendously deep, not when he was gushing buckets as he gasped and struggled to take an even breath when his lungs failed him. He pressed a careful hand into Red's quaking chest, turning him onto his back as he writhed and whined before reaching up and frantically clutching at Purple's fingers, trying to sling himself back into a well shrouded ball when the sounds of insectlike buzzing resounded and raked through the yawning jaws of the shimmering cave and echoed, setting Purple alight with a desperation to finish what he'd started as he fired a single, tiny bolt of plasma into Red's skin to cauterize the bubbling wound, wrapping his arms around his friend's waist when he shot up and screamed to the cruelly merciless forest at the piercing, atrocious, absolutely flesh melting feeling of searing hot ammunition closing his razed side and immediately rendering him near unconscious as his voice cracked and died away to a feeble, weakened groan. Zim shot up in his sleep and yelped out of sudden fright, going on the trained defensive and springing into action before freezing completely and trying to figure out what was going on through his groggy, half-asleep visage, catching sight of the pool of blood caked beneath his commanding officer and frowning when Purple hushed him softly and ran soothing circles into the small of his back with the balls of his hands from where he lulled and drooled aimlessly over his shoulder.

"My Taller, what…? What happened to Commander Red? I go to sleep for what, an hour, and wake up to everything falling apart again?!" He cried, overwhelmed and intrigued at the same time before his sensitive antennae perked to the same sound of gnashing jaws and skittering legs Purple had unfortunately heard in his violent, dreadful time slogging through the snow. "Disgusting! Is that what I think it is?"

Purple glanced up from his work, trying to give Red a chance to calm down and catch his ragged, shallow breath as he moved and blinked sluggishly, falling forward to rest his limp chin on Purple's shoulder when his arms fell to his sides. "What? What do you think it is because I'd really like to know what's going on for once! Every time something happens you guys keep me in the dark about it!" He demanded, looking Zim head to toe before following his determined, deeply heartless gaze towards the darkness, remaining silent as he watched for potential attackers in the gloom. He turned back to Red, snatching him lightly by the jaw and drawing him back in his hold when he coughed. "Red? Red look at me. Keep your eyes up here and use my voice as an anchor to keep yourself awake. I need to know what you saw out there when you ran out."

"He ran out in the middle of a blizzard? Why would anyone be so stupid?!" Zim scolded fervently, reeling himself back in with an immature pout when Purple growled in his direction and visibly bristled.

"That's none of your business and this is between Red and I to figure out so please, just keep watch and make sure nothing comes in here to tear us to pieces!" He snapped, growing horrendously uncomfortable with the closeness of their bodies and trying again to get his friend to respond to his frantic, fanatical voice. "Red, please, listen to me! I know you're tired and you feel like you're gonna die but I promise you're not going anywhere. It's my turn to be strong for what's left f Lavender Fire again, but I really need you to tell me what you saw so I can prepare for the worst! Do we need to move or should we stay here and wait it out?"

Red shook his head with a slurred sigh and a sluggish blink at the barrage of stuttered, frantic questioning as his eyes dulled slightly when his PAK kicked in and began to administer sedatives to the site of his blistering, deep violet wound. "No…no. If you move we risk exposing ourselves to that nasty thing that bit me." He huffed lethargically. "I'm sorry I ran out but I got overwhelmed and I'm sorry but…we can talk about that l-later. Right now you need to make sure that t-thing doesn't get in here. It's huge and has insane armor protection along its back and its mouth is sharper than a knife. I've been stabbed b-before but this is by far the worst feeling I've had in a while."

Purple listened intently and took the sleeve to wrap it snugly around Red's waist, taking a deep breath and squeezing his eye shut as he braced himself for a second shout, tying it as tightly as he could and cringing when Red's eyes flew wide once more and his piercing, filthy claws dug sharply into his shoulder blades as he squirmed and vaulted away from his tight grasp, attempting to fight on impulse as Purple tied a second knot into his makeshift compress, letting go and gingerly lowering Red back as he spat to the side and shouted a string of untamed, hot curses back in his face to combat his torment. He reeled back forward and choked on a forced sob, jaw slack as his pain continued to resound as a chorus of garbled grunts and strained shrieks with every throb of his abdomen palpitating brutally under his fabric cinch and stealing every gasping breath he tried to suck in, only forcing Purple's impressive knotwork tighter as he moved.

"Shh...everything's going to be ok." Purple hummed with an almost paternal instinct, brushing his fingertips along Red's collarbone to try and keep him from passing out, a fleeting but necessary touch holding him to reality. "I know how bad it hurts, Red, but you have to power through it and keep strong like I've seen you can be."

"Fucking hell, Purple, you could have given me some w-warning before you squeezed my organs out!" He complained feebly, glaring up from below and freezing when Zim threw out his PAK legs and braced himself against the slick floor of the cave, wide crimson eyes slick with terror as he raised a single, shaky finger to point at something creeping down at a snail's pace to peer into their stronghold and invade their privacy with an overpowering sense of hunger and ravenous desire. "T-There...that thing...I-it's back. No, Purple it's back!"

Purple followed his erratic, terrified screech, watching in overwhelmed terror when a single, jet black leg slunk down from above to tease at the rocky mouth of the cave with thousands of stout, bristly hairs poking this way and that to scent the air for sugary, honied morsels to munch upon. Zim froze and warmed his four formidable PAK lasers, digging his toes into his boots as Purple positioned himself carefully in front of Red's weakened body as a makeshift shield, shrouding him in what was left of their shredded jacket and feeling a deep, undying need to protect hitch in his internal wiring and explode as he hopped up and stared forward with enough fire to light the whole forest ablaze. He needed to protect Red in his venerable state, knowing in the back of his mind that he wouldn't be able to stomach another blow before his body went completely into shock and shut down from overexertion. Another skinny, jagged leg appeared, feeling blindly about and rubbing against the first to create a whistling song reverberating from rubbery, blubbery skin before a set of creaking mandibles chattered and shivered their way into sight, sending Purple's blood pressure through the roof when he realized the sheer size of the creature beaming back at them from afar. What followed was a face with five gargantuan, deep mauve eyes on independent snaillike stalks flicking this way and that and a thin shuddering proboscis scenting into the firm crystal from behind dripping jowls and a jittery resolve that was nauseatingly distressing to watch. It was as if the whole nightmarish terror was moving at different speeds, vibrating and hitching to stop completely before buzzing back to life as if it had been wound up like a smeet's toy and released, a rigid, fat-laden body following suit as the creature chirped and hissed from within it's exoskeleton and crawled its way into the mouth of the cave to hang expertly from the crystalline rafters. Purple didn't know what to think, petrified as pure waves of sticky dread dripped to his boots in the form of the beast's drooling jaws, watching in a mixture of fascinated revulsion and mind-numbing, frantic panic for what was to come. Zim was the same, standing completely still and transfixed on the glittering, wraithlike opacity of the fuzzy insect's wings continuously jittering and flapping to keep warm as it hunted and craned its starved, intrigued face down to where Red lay in a viscous pool of his own blood.

Don't hesitate.

Purple took a step back as the same mantra took him once more and reminded him that he was a soldier deep down beneath the terror he'd endured, swallowing his alarm and static apprehensions when he locked eyes with the undulating, heaving beast and narrowed his own gaze to something as intimidating as he could muster. "Hey, freak! Shoo!" He waved a hand to assert his dominance, hoping the creature would get the point and be intimidated by the forcefulness of his tone. "This is our cave so go find your own before I have to come up there and kick you out myself!"

The mammoth fly responded by stretching its eyes further from its dense skull, squeezing them free like toothpaste from a tube and blinked five vinyl textured eyelids, slinking back but keeping its curious, unwavering stare completely transfixed on the glint of Purple's knife as he gradually snuck his PAK legs towards the surface of his hardware, ready to flee should they need a hasty escape. It widened its shuddering jowls and flicked its long, needle-like proboscis forward to spit with an unintimidated hiss, splashing deep violet muck to the floor to eat away at the crystal like acid and splash it over the soles of Purple's already worn down shoes. He yelped and stumbled backwards, tripping over Red and shrouding him with his body as he struggled to kick off a shoe when the monster's corrosive vomit ate holes through the leather and stung ruthlessly at his bare skin, finally breaking free and rubbing at his sore toes with his free hand when the fly shuddered from above and threatened to rain down a mouthful of goopy, repulsive body fluids. Almost as if it were a reflex, Zim threw his head back with a wild chortle of a laugh and rocketed backwards as he fired four booming shots, slicing through a crystal stalactite without so much as an aim and spooking the gargantuan monster to take a hasty leap of faith from its perch high in the air, buzzing free with dangling legs waving and jiggling violently in the breeze as it dove at surprising speed for the tiny intrusion it perceived as an immediate threat, hissing over Purple's back when Zim ducked and rolled carefully out of the way before administering another hot, stinging plasma shot at its tiny face, barely missing when the monster jetted out of the way just in time for the blow to land elsewhere. Zim cackled ferociously when his assault ripped through one of the creature's delicate wings, a spurt of black, glittery blood spraying over the back of the cave as it was torn ruthlessly free from its gelatinous body and tossed aside like a crumpled mess of paper and discarded plastic. Lilting legs collided hard with the floor and skidded when they found nothing to latch onto to slow their death defying velocity, Purple grabbing for Red around the shoulder with a cry of alarm and thrusting him out of the way just as a clawed appendage flailed and slammed down into the fire to rain bright yellow sparks in every direction and sting at his ankles, earning a deep, guttural contortion of a scream from the fly as it struggled to move away from the burn it hadn't been expecting. It reared back and contorted into a wobbly mess of flailing noodle-like appendages and hairs standing stout on end, rushing as fast as its lengthy feet would allow it to a shrouded crevice in the back of the cave to cower amongst the crystal in sheer, appalled terror. It hissed and snickered to itself, blowing air from its exoskeleton and screeching in primal horror when Zim approached and shouted something back in Irken with another pitilessly unsympathetic wave of nauseating laughter, brandishing a sharp PAK leg as the creature began to heal immediately from the violence of the overpowering fight, sprouting another wing from the casing of its back and unfurling it as a goopy, sopping mess of primordial fluid and renewed tissues before flattening it along its ribbed back hump. It struggled to press into the corner behind a giant crystalline spire, folding every one of its jelly-like legs into its quivering body as it whined and squealed pathetically and craned to look about for purchase to escape only to panic and writhe further when it found none.

Purple watched in utter enchantment and clamped a hand over his antennae when the sound nearly made him go deaf, a mixture of warbling feral cries and something mimicking the shrieks of what almost sounded like an endangered Irken smeet, his instincts as a scientist resurfacing after many long cycles away from the incredible field and drawing him forward with an innate perplexity to the oddly intriguing charisma pouring from the overpoweringly treacherous, hazardous foreign animal panting and palpitating in rasping, throaty trepidation as its forebody throbbed and swelled before forcing another whoosh of steamy air out into the atmosphere.

"What the hell are you doing? That thing just hit me in my side and now you're suddenly all brave and raring to fight?" Red hissed from the floor, reaching out and grabbing Purple by the ankle only to curse when he gently kicked him free. "Purple, seriously, let Zim kill it and then we can eat! This way I wont have to hunt if we get stuck out here and we won't starve to death."

Purple rolled his eyes and shook his head in surging disappointment, motioning silently for Zim to hang back with a palm as he pulled away. "Irk, we're not going to starve and we're not going to eat it either, because we're civilized Irkens here, ok? Its backed itself into a corner and I'm starting to wonder if its way more afraid of us than we are of it." He scolded, finding a tiny stitch of sympathy in his spooch as he approached, passing the glinting knife to Zim who went to protest but decided against it when Purple held out his hands to show he was defenseless and smiled, hoping with all his might that he appeared somewhat loving and friendly. "Hey, stink beast," he began gingerly, every step setting his body alight with a need to run but an intrinsic inquisitiveness to keep on for the sake of a delicious idea budding in the back of his exhausted mind. "Man, you're a lady killer aren't you? And you have such a sweet voice with all those squeaks and screams, I bet you have the prettiest song in the forest, don't you big guy? I know you probably don't understand me, but if you do, you don't have to be afraid. I'm not gonna eat you like the crazy guy I left on the floor over there and I only want to see you a little closer."

Red labored to move to his side, finally working up to a knee as he woozily pulled on his tattered jacket with another thick cough, jumping a bit when the creature registered the noise as a threat and shrieked at the top of its lungs. "You can't be serious. You wanna go over there and talk to it like it has a mind of its own?" He bit, glancing to Zim for help and only earning a shrug in return. "That monster stabbed me in the side and you think you can make friends with it?!"

"Do you ever shut up? What were you doing out there when he bit you, anyway?" Purple continued his apprehensive gate, flinching when he caught sight of shuddering legs kicking wildly to press their body up into a crevice far too small to contain them. "I really don't think this guy is dangerous, Red. He's way more scared of you two than we should be of him."

Red thought a moment, opening his PAK and pulling out a half-eaten candy bar from his storage unit and brandishing it. "Um, well, after I left because of our…eh…confrontation, I thought I heard something but couldn't find it. So, I found a bit of shelter from the wind and sat down to eat when that freak showed up and attacked me by shooting his gross mouthparts into my side!"

Purple narrowed his eyes and watched as the creature's eyes extended once more at the scent of chocolate, elongating to the fullest extent of their range and struggling wildly to peek through the glassy crystal to where Red stood resolute and fuming with what was left of his milky treat. Wait…it was interested in the _candy_? Purple grinned, bounding back as fast as he could and stealing the bar away, ignoring Red's irate shout of disapproval before tugging away the crinkly plastic and shoving it in his pocket as he hunted through every bit of information he could find about the creature in his PAK data. He'd had extensively detailed lessons with Lire about the natural flora and fauna of the landscape, remembering a few tiny things here and there about the petrified, viscous monster and holding up the saccharine chocolate to try and coax it out from its dismayed hide as it slithered and slunk back with every step further he took.

"It's called a Schloripps, if I remember from my lessons. The Callnowians slowly acclimate these guys to the light over periods of several weeks then use them to haul goods and services around through the city as free labor. They're completely harmless and-"

"Harmless?! Your Schlor-whatever tried to kill me and suck my organs out through its freaky straw mouth!" Red retaliated, stalking forward when his PAK numbed his healing wound completely, spinning Purple around on his heel and throwing a finger in his face. "Look, I care about you, alright? I've been around you for six months and I know you're a few screws short of a whole ship, but this is crazy even for you and I won't let you go over there to mess around with something that could potentially maim you." He rubbed at Purple's arms through his undershirt, pulling away when he tried to maintain boundaries for once. "I just don't want you getting hurt."

Purple flashed him a knowing, condescending look before patting him flippantly on the shoulder. "You really are stupid, aren't you? Schloripps are herbivores, Red. They spit up on plant material to dissolve it into a sugar to drink it, like a lot of the creatures I studied back on Irk when I was still a microbiologist out in the woods. This is just on a much bigger scale than what I used to work with but it's basically the same thing. That's probably why it _accidentally_ hit you in the side, you drama queen; he smelled sugar and came down for a look, went for your candy bar, and missed because the visibility was so low out there in the snow. Then he followed us back hoping we would feed him, idiot." He grinned and turned, holding the scrumptious chocolate back out with a playful tut of the tongue. "Here big fella, you want something to eat? I know there's not a lot of food out here." He tossed the bar towards the corner, listening as it crunched to the floor and giggling when the Schloripps immediately spun and scuttled from its indentation to heave a wave of sloppy bile over the tiny morsel, hastily slurping it back up through its straw like mouth before retreating back to cower.

Red was dumbfounded, glancing down to the now unfeeling pierce in his side and watching in awed bewilderment as the trembling vision of gargantuan, behemoth-like lack of grace quivered and chortled, choking down what was left of the chocolate in its mouth and waiting for more they no longer had. "Wait, so this…this thing isn't actually dangerous? Why does it look that way then?" He breathed, falling in line with Purple and watching as he stooped to his knees to try and call the Schlorrips out into the open. "It's so ugly and prickly."

"I think the hairs are to help it feel for vibrations when it burrows underground. That's why we need to get it out of here. I have an idea, but I know you're not gonna like it." He extended a tranquil, accepting palm again, growing enthralled and giddy when the Schlorrips decided to peek back around the glassy crystal and strain with unblinking eyes to examine each and every one of the pads on his fingers. "We both know that the city has a dome that protects it from the cold at night, right? Well, if this guy can burrow, and they're already accepted in the city, we could use his skills to dig our way up into the city and put us right at Ipi's mansion. You can use your ocular lens implants to search the buildings above ground for the correct one and we'd end up in the catacombs where Zim was supposed to be looking for the five thousand others! We could slip right in in the dead of night without anyone noticing and assassinate Ipi to take out the head of their sickening empire and watch it fall from the inside out!"

"The five thousand others were gone, my Taller. Zim saw nothing." Zim piped up, intrigued by the notion of having a burrowing behemoth to do their bidding. "But this is an excellent plan if this stink beast would cooperate!"

Red nodded along and stooped down with his ingenious friend, sitting cross-legged on the ground and trying to soften his gaze to entice the recoiling creature into the open. "You know, that's actually not bad. See," he nudged Purple in the ribs and chuckled, "you really would be an amazing Tallest with a brain like that. The last time we had daylight, the capitol looked like it was about two miles away, give or take. The dome stretches up into the cloud cover above, so we can see it if we can crest high enough over the blizzard."

Purple grinned back at the idea, feeling his matted eye slowly begin to work open after several hours of swelling. "And you think I'm a genius? I only thought about the burrowing and completely forgot we could fly this guy to wherever we need to go! We'll have to be quick, because he'll burrow back underground when dawn hits since he's not acclimated to the light, I'm assuming." He turned back to Zim, looking him head to toe and giving the Schloripps a chance to calm itself as it wheezed. "What exactly did you see under Ipi's mansion?"

Zim sat inbetween the two, wiggling obnoxiously between their laps and putting some much-needed distance between their knees as he spoke. "Hmm, I remember it being dark and filthy, but no one had been down there in a while. There was lots of tubing hooked to the walls labeled DNA Transport, a bunch of wires, and some old disgusting medical tables in the back. Zim doesn't remember the smell of Irken down there, just the smell of Callnowian filth."

"I remember the transfer tubes." Red interjected, blinking when the Schloripps' curiosity finally became far too great for its overactive, gentle mind to handle as it cautiously crept out of the shadows to listen. "This was before we picked you up on Foodcourtia, Zim. They were hooked into our PAKs and our DNA was forcibly stripped and reencoded through our own machinery before they took it and funneled it somewhere. I never saw where they took it or what it was for, and I never saw the other end of the tube even when Sen and I were a couple." He paused, wracking his brain for any helpful crumbs of insight he could snatch from his bouncing memories. "The Callnowians are almost desperate for purple-eyed DNA, but I don't know why. Even when I was with Sen, she made me sit in a specialized room while they extracted my coding just for her and it was really eerie." He shuddered and squinted down at the fidgety, high strung germaphobe lounging rigidly between them. "That place was full of other Irkens when I was there, and this was only about three cycles ago! Are you sure you didn't see _anyone_?"

Zim instantly shook his head, holding firm to his story with a passive shrug. "Like I said, Zim saw no one." He thought a moment, lighting up when he finally remembered something helpful. "When I was doing my rounds for survivors, I did find something, though. I got caught before I could read it but it looked like someone scratched something into the wall in one of the prison blocks. Something about a location, but I didn't get a good look at what it said because it was in Callnowian, not Irken."

Purple cocked his head and leaned forward, ignoring the Schloripps when it advanced once more and flashed its scythe-like feeding tube to ask for another bar of chocolate no one had to give. "Woah, woah, woah. If it was an Irken holding facility, why was there Callnowian writing on the wall?" He mused, wracking his brain and coming up completely short. "That doesn't make any sense unless it's not just our people they're holding. Do you remember where it was?"

Zim grinned proudly and puffed up his chest, withdrawing his PAK legs completely and passing the knife back to Red, who promptly sheathed it. "Of course I do! I am Zim and Zim forgets nothing!" He hopped up, striding briskly to where the Schloripps had finally calmed itself to a manageable simmer, buzzing delectably about and sniffing for any crumbs or drops of acidic liquid it had forgotten before taking a few pained gaits forward and plopping down several feet away to form a jiggly mess of goopy exoskeleton and splayed twitching legs. "Now let us don this monster and fly it to victory!"

The Schloripps eyed Zim closely when he attempted to approach, knocking him back like a bowling pin with its long mouthparts and a fervent hiss of irritation when he hopped up and tried to argue, Purple chuckling all the while and grabbing Red by the wrist to hoist him up to a stand. "You go ahead and get him all warmed up, Zim! Red and I need to talk about something first." A pang of horrendous, numbed dread rocketed through his stomach and hit him in the PAK as Red went to protest, clamping his jaw shut and flattening his antennae to his skull as he allowed himself to be tugged to the sidelines.

"You…eh…you wanna talk about," Red swallowed and refused to make eye contact, "what exactly?" His voice was barely audible over the pittering of soft hairs hitting glassy, slick quartz, a ghost of a forlorn sound stammering awkwardly over Purple's own stalks and making them twitch aimlessly in annoyance. "Oh come on, don't look at me like that."

"Shut up and listen because we need to get a few things straight, here." Purple growled, the atmosphere rapidly crumbling to something dangerous and electric. "From the moment I met you, you've done nothing but be a massive thorn in my side. You can't keep your nasty hands off me, you hit me in the face, and then you leaned in for what I'm assuming was some kind of weird sympathy kiss? What the hell is wrong with you? It's like your mind changes every hour and you just do stuff without thinking about how it makes _me_ feel."

Red blinked and shrunk back a bit, feeling worse than the Schloripps had when they tried to take his life. He wished he could crawl into the crevice instead and hide away for cycles when a lonely, despairing ache blasted icy, hollow waves of pungent heartbreak over his thoughts. "I…I'm sorry. I know I already apologized before, but-"

"Exactly. You already apologized, so how many more things are you going to keep doing to where you have to apologize again?" Purple snapped firmly, finding a bit more confidence now that he was away from Del's advisory team. "For two whole cycles I had to listen to what everyone else wanted and suppress what _I_ want. And, you know what? I don't want whatever you've thought was between us for the last six months. You may have known me for that long, and I get that, but I've only known you for two days, Red. _Two_ days! You're a stranger to me and, even if I will admit I think you're nice sometimes, I don't know anything about you other than what you've told me or the fights I've seen you have with your girlfriend."

Red winced at the mention of Tak lying cold and disfigured in the blizzard with only Skoodge's dead form to keep her company. "What do you want from me then? I said I was sorry, so what else do you want me to say for us to put this in the past?" He huffed, feeling his own exasperation rise in his chest and threaten his stability. "You don't know what you want either! One minute you're a tough no-nonsense warrior and the next you're crying all over the place and screaming about your life. I know you were hurt and abused, and I feel awful that it had to happen that way, but you're free now and I told you I'm not going to let anything happen to you as long as I'm around."

Purple began to pace, bringing his fingertips to his temples when his colleague didn't seem to understand his point. "Ugh, you don't get it, do you? I think your protection is nice, and thank you for helping me get through all this snow, but I just want you to finish your damn mission and take me to the Nebula. I want to find our people, get them off this awful planet, and never have to think about any of this ever again or feel like I'm obligated to give you something just because you think you like me for some reason. You had a girlfriend, Red, and it's really creepy for you to be doing all of this stuff after she died a few hours ago. I'm an Irken with a consciousness and I have the right to choose what I want and what I don't, so I'm finally making that decision for myself again and stepping away from this whole nightmare you keep trying to drag me back into. It's confusing, strange, and really uncomfortable to know that the guy who stalked me for six months and did nothing to help me wants to put his mouth on mine. Yeah, I'm gay, but I'm not here for you to use like some toy, Red. Honestly, just hearing how you talked to your girlfriend, I'm not even sure you know what you want, yet." He took a deep inhale followed by an incensed, overexaggerated exhale when he realized he was getting a bit too harsh. "What I'm saying is, stop talking to me like you own me or something. Stop treating me like we have something because I _literally_ don't know you! Don't try to touch me, don't try to hit me, and never, ever try to kiss me! I'm not going to say this again!"

Red didn't know what to say, standing stunned for a few moments and squeaking out a few under planned syllables as Purple reached out and placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder with a riled sigh. "You…you think I'm creepy?" He mumbled under the sounds of Zim running at top speed with a cry of terror when the Schoripps wobbled up and gave chase on excited, playful legs. "You really think I stalked you?"

Purple quickly pulled away, bringing his hands together at the incredibly hurt, overpoweringly innocent fear stamped behind Red's ocular lenses. "Well…I don't know. You followed me without me knowing and it makes me nervous that you know all this stuff about me and I know nothing about you. If you want to be around me so bad, you need to treat me like a friend and an equal and make an attempt to actually know who I am and not who you thought you saw when I was stuck on the Massive." He shifted gawkily on his feet, averting his gaze over Red's shoulder when Zim tore past once more followed by the scampering, hairy appendages of the trilling monster they'd come to be saddled with. "I don't think you're a bad guy and I definitely don't think you meant me any harm, but I'll say it again; I don't think you know what you want. I don't wanna sound selfish, but it's a little unfair to me for you to be forcing all of this affection I didn't even knew existed until today down my throat and expecting me to swallow it. I'm willing to be friends with you, but I have to get to know you first if that's what you really want. You know my boundaries now, and don't overstep them again or I'll find my own way to the Nebula without your help."

With that, Purple didn't give Red a chance to respond, brushing past and shaking off Red's depressed, hollow look of unbearable rejection like rain as he clapped enthusiastically for the gargantuan Schloripps to settle, running a tender, kindhearted hand up over his wings when he plopped back down and followed Purple's commands like the two had known each other since their hatching.

That was that.

Purple had rejected him.

His crush...the object of his affection had _rejected_ him.

Red tried to hold it together, swallowing down his appallingly hurt pride and glassy, broken heart shattered to pieces by the palms of someone so heavenly beautiful and radiantly handsome yet so horrifically distant to his touch. He knew he'd overstepped a line with his attempt at a kiss, forcing his limp, miserably dejected antennae to perk and trying not to focus on the palpable feeling of every shred of ecstatic, comforting hope die away from his mind to leave nothing but a void of despondent, glum heartbreak and nauseating unhappiness that ached worse than losing his two closest friends. The worst thing was…he knew Purple was right.

Of course he was right. They had only known each other two days, after all.

Zim vaulted up and grimaced at the wobbly feeling of the Schloripps armor plates undulating and shivering beneath him, extending a hand down and pulling Purple up behind him. He jostled a bit to get comfortable, flinching when a few stout hairs stabbed at his clothes before gently brushing them away and listening to the gentle giant let out a low, satisfied hiss.

"Well, Red? Are you coming? We wanted to get to the capitol, right?" He asked with a genuinely friendly smile, setting a tiny spark of eagerness back in Red's spooch when he blinked away his tears.

He took a step forward and followed the natural path of the cave, meandering through the deliciously magnificent, heavenly work of art that had shielded them from the elements and nodding up to the man who had captured his delicate fascinations and crushed his heart in his fingers, letting his lifeforce ooze down to his lap as he grinned innocently from above and extended a palm down. Friends. They could be friends someday, right? Red nodded to himself and took a deep breath, grabbing for Purple's wrist and immediately letting go when a gruff grumble of a voice sounded through the snow at the mouth of the cave, drawing his shocked attention away. Red turned just as Purple let out a horrendous cry of guttural, primal terror at the two demonic greenish yellow orbs staring up at their little escape venture from below, tattered in his silks and covered in raw animal hides he'd skinned in his ventures across the snow. He was short, stocky, and covered in wrinkled flesh that had seen better days by a hundred long cycles, one antennae lopsided and snapped and the other craning forward as he pressed a shaky palm against a nearby stone to stabilize his wobbly gait.

"Nemi…you didn't come to look for me? You dare betray your Empire by diverting from your purpose?"

"Lire? Is that you?" Red breathed in shock, taking a step back when the proverbial phantom strained forward and nodded, groaning at the frostbite in his toes and radiating pain in his bramble-sliced skin. "You…we thought you were _dead_!"

"General Styx? I should have known you would be the one to steal my consort away from his divine gifts." Lire spat back, glaring maliciously from under two heavy, deepset eyelids. "You were always Del's favorite, but I saw how you looked at him. I swear on our planet if I find that you've laid a single hand on Empire property I will have you strung up and executed myself for high treason."

"Property?! You think he's your fucking property?!" Red defended, throwing a hand out when Purple folded forward to cry into the back of Zim's shirt at the crushing weight slamming down on his once free chest flooding back into horrific servitude. "He's not some pet to the regime and he definitely doesn't belong to you!"

Lire sneered, shucking his fur to the ground and giving a thick, raspy cough as he sighed delicately into the comfort of the fire. "You know nothing of what it means to be a politician, General. You're a buffoon playing dress up in a uniform and hoping to climb ranks you'll never see if you don't understand his importance to our cause. He has to go to Prime Minister Ipi and Sen for the Flesh Treaty to-"

"You idiot, Sen is dead!" Red threw his hands in the air with an irate, furious shout that amalgamated into something much nastier and enraged. He let it. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't shoot you between the eyes with my PAK lasers after what you did!"

"Sen is deceased?" Lire narrowed his eyes suspiciously and searched Red's face in long, languid sweeps. "That's impossible, she can't die. And I don't know what you're talking about. Stand down, officer, that's an order from Del's high council or I will be forced to use, well, _force_."

Red wasn't following, refusing to back down for Purple's sake and bristling as his body heated to dangerous levels and his untamed, furious temper began it's long decent from the innermost, boiling reaches of his undomesticated psyche. "What do you mean that's impossible?! I watched her die you disgusting monster!" He felt the beginning fringes of his PAK legs adjust on impulse and lurch within the titanium casing of his PAK, scraping at the delicate coating within and threatening to burst free at a moment's notice as the tension continued to explode between the two. "I know what you did to my friend and if you don't want me to gut you like an animal I suggest _you_ stand down."

Lire merely blinked in disinterest, ignoring Red's scorching threats completely and averting his deeply disappointed, sadistic gaze to where Purple had hunkered down against Zim's PAK, shooting straight when he blew a sharp whistle past his teeth to gain his attention. "Nemi, darling, come down here and let me look at you. Now."

"N-No! N-No, please I thought you died, Lire! I-I saw you get sucked out of the transport pod when we were attacked and you…y-you…!" Purple slid down from the Schloripps and landed hard to his knees as he practically groveled and begged pathetically for forgiveness, curling to the ground as the dastardly, absolutely repulsive Irken limped forward and ran a tender, disgustingly tender hand between his antennae as if to console him before his next session of mind-bending, correctional torture for his wrongdoings. "Please, sir! I thought you were dead! P-Please I didn't mean to! I-I promise! I had to find a way out of the cold or it would have killed me! I-It would have-"

Lire took him by the jaw and turned his now tear streaked face up as he bawled to examine the long, thin gash over his eyelid, a look of appalled, furious anger ripping the peace over his stretched face as he bent down and ran a thumb along the length of his wound, shuddering with uncultivated, feral resentment. "You…you let your beauty slip. Who did this to you?" He whispered with a terrifying calm that had Red raring to rip him in half. "We agreed that you'd stay beautiful and you destroyed everything I worked for all to run through the snow?! How dare you do this to me?!"

Pulses slowed, instincts heightened, screams sounded.

The world moved in slow motion as Lire's blackened hand reared back, one flying to snatch Purple around the throat and squeeze as Zim launched himself from the top of the Schlorrips to combat the adulterous abuser as Purple cried out in wraithlike, antennae-splitting horror, throwing his shaky hands over his face as he cried and tried with all his might to get away. No. No. Not again. Never again. Not this, _never_ this. Red froze when he made fleeting eye contact with his friend through his fingers, catching sight of the bottomless agony and excruciatingly tormented soul ricocheting through every fiber of his being and lighting a bloody, gruesome inferno beneath him that had every sinew, every muscle in his body aching to maim.

No.

He was going to protect Purple whether he wanted it or not.

He was going to end this.

* * *

I'm so sorry I brought Lire back…not really. I want to watch him and Red duke it out! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I love you all! Thank you!

**Next update: Wednesday, February 5, 2020 at 10:00 PM CDT (UTC-5)! See you then!**


	10. With Blood Like Stardust

Hello and welcome back to this episode of Fire in the Snow! I am super excited for this chapter, because we're finally getting hints as to what's happening deeper beneath the surface and the ice of Callnowia! I hope you enjoy this chapter, and thank you guys for coming by again and leaving all of your wonderful reviews!

GUESS WHAT? I HAVE A BETA READER NOW! YAY!

I like the song "Outrunning Karma" by Alec Benjamin for this chapter. I actually listened to a Daycore version of this song while writing this chapter!

THANKS TO OUR ANONYMOUS REVIEWER WHO SKIMS AND LIKES THIS WHOLE STORY! I'm so happy I can drag you out of your skimming to get lost in the torment! Also thank you to every single one of our anonymous reviewers who always show back up! I read every one of your reviews when they show up and I'm so happy when I get them!

**Chapter rated M for graphic depictions of blood/violence, implied sexual abuse, implied emotional abuse, implied neglect/deprivation, graphic depictions of medical procedures, non-explicit nudity, implied mental disorders/PTSD, suggestive themes, and general adult content.**

* * *

**Six months in the recent past; The Massive**

Dark days like this were the worst. Purple could never figure out where he was, or where they were going. Everything felt like it was traveling in slow motion, the rock and lull of the ship throwing him off balance in the shadows with every gentle turn or shudder of the booming thrusters outside his windowless room in the belly of the ship only reminding him further how alone he was in his decreed sentence. Did he even exist at this point, or had he become a formless mist cast adrift to flutter from overheating pipelines and sizzling radiators as engineers pattered by outside his locked hatch and had no idea to the horror unfolding just feet away from their calloused fingertips.

He was in trouble…again.

This time it was with his Tallest.

Del wanted to take a large sample of his blood for analysis to the med-bay upstairs just past his glittering, opulent office, but Purple had panicked and refused on impulse. The amount of his life force needed was appalling, a single quart of his gooey, necessary blood was to be tested for disease in light of a recent controversial pathogen fluttering around the ship contracted from a recent docking on Devastis, but he wasn't so sure that's what they craved it for. Del had leaned over his desk, digging his fingers into the edge of the pristine metal and leaving long, thin gashes under his claws as he locked his deep, golden eyes with his prisoner and grinned, leisurely looking him head to toe as if he was a willing, luscious blood bank ready to burst like a tick and be lapped up from the dust-free floor beneath them. It was no pathogen or disease they were testing for; Purple knew it was all a lie to get him strapped in the chair and drained to a numbed sickness that put him out of commission for days and left him susceptible to the groping, trailing claws of Lire and whatever other monster decided to use their key card to his room for an all access, nauseating buffet of unwanted tongues and stoic, risqué stares that chipped away at his non-existent resolve and put him on autopilot to receive whatever chuckle tainted torment they had to give. They'd done it before in the past, sucking up overwhelming bags of sticky, vivid pink blood and running their hands over the warmth radiating from every vial as they held them up to the light, leaving him behind woozy and space sick in the medical chair to be pumped full of sugary liquid saline by a dutiful medical drone and Del's personal physician shining the searing beam of a headlamp directly into his cornea to try and stimulate a response. Purple would be lying if he said he wasn't terrified, the gaze of his leader's usually posh visage over his mountains of paperwork and loose dockets forcing him down in his seat as he trembled and petrified to an icy mess of anxiety and unwillingness to feel the excruciating pain of a needle shoved deep under his skin for a fourth time. He hadn't meant to refuse, stuttering out the pitiful response under his breath and regretting it immediately when his Tallest craned further over his piping hot cup of jet black coffee and let his stare harden to something malicious and agonizingly malevolent, the viscous spite and hateful intent hanging like lead in the air and calcifying Purple in his putrid, spine-chilling headspace as he watched Del gingerly lower his gold encrusted mug to the lip of his desk with a gruff, low sigh and lean back against the plush cushion of his chair to tut his dry tongue. Purple could remember him looking older, deep-set lines and decrepit wrinkles carved into his stony face and jawline as he ran a hand up to brush them with his now fury shaking fingertips, pursing his cracked lips as he glanced away and thought long and hard about what he was to decree as Purple flew to his feet and begged feebly for forgiveness.

_No, no. You've made your decision, Nemi, and if you want to talk back to your Tallest you must live with your actions. In a world where a spur of the moment decision like this can kill you, I would like you to finally learn to think before you speak. How can I trust you to take on the position of Tallest if you can't even do that?_

_ P-Please, my Tallest! Forgive me for speaking out of line, sir, I just d-don't understand why you need so many samples of my blood. I-I'm scared, sir, because every time I have to go to the med-bay they always end up taking more than the last session! W-What if they kill me? W-What if they take so much that I can't recover?_

_ You're so ignorant. They're under my orders, and those orders clearly state that you are to be kept in good health for the Callnowian Flesh Treaty. Do you really think I, your Almighty Tallest, would let you die? You don't trust in my abilities to keep you safe and free from harm? Well?_

_ N-No, my Tallest, that's not what I meant! O-Of course I trust you, sir! I trust you with my life and-_

_ Trust me with your life, do you? Good. _

_ S-Sir?_

_ You will be severely punished for questioning my judgement, Nemi. My guards here will take you down to the radiator and you will sit there for…hm…three days? Yes, three days in the dark without food and minimal drink while you think about what you've done. Do you understand?_

_ P-Please, m-my Tallest! P-Please! I didn't mean to talk back to you, please!_

_ Ah, but you did. Remember your place, young one. You're a consort to the Callnowian Empire but before you're transferred to their disgusting hands you belong to MY Empire. Only when I'm long since gone, will it transfer to you. You may plead and beg all you want but no one will hear you down there. After three days, I'll be down to personally see if you're ready to give me your blood. Understand?_

_ Y…Yes, my Tallest._

Surprisingly, Lire had put up a bit of a protest as Purple was being dragged away, choking back the tears he'd come to be overly intimate with over the past few cycles and watching out of the corner of his eye as his advisor and proverbial slave master threw a hot finger up in Del's face, earning a growl of distain in return. He could still hear them bickering and squabbling as he was instructed to don his ceremonial hood to obscure his gorgeously youthful face from anyone wandering the halls of the Massive, tugging the thick fabric down over his eyes and gingerly looping his long, fluttering antennae through two carefully sewn slits as he listened to Lire practically beg for their Tallest to see reason. Why? Lire was no better than Del, if not worse in certain respects but still, here he was, going to bat for him and trying to rid him of his dastardly, bloodcurdling torture of a punishment? No…there was something else. As Purple took his time buttoning the front of his deep violet cloak, flashing the potent, authoritative guard a cheesy smile, he took the opportunity to draw out the moment and eavesdrop a bit, only coming up with more bewildering, distressing questions than answers.

_Councilman Lire, you've overstayed your welcome. I'll kindly ask you to leave._

_ Del, listen to me, I've known you for cycles. We were in the Academy together and I helped you rise to where you are now because I saw validity in your little project but now this has gotten out of hand. You can't keep doing what you're doing because he's going to find out and retaliate. Please, listen to me as your friend; this has to end. _

_ End? What are you saying? You wanted this too and we're going to see it through to completion like we planned. Ipi's men are almost finished with the technology and we can't back out at this stage of the development!_

_ Listen to yourself, Del. You're obsessing over something we don't even know is going to work. Sure, the Callnowians have perfected their methods but how much longer do you think they'll want to maintain an alliance with our Empire? If you keep sending other specimens out there for blood, they'll just keep them all to themselves and leave us behind in the dust. When will our own people realize something is happening?_

_ Don't worry, Lire. I've planned for that._

_ Have you?! You keep sucking Nemi dry and I'm trying to keep him broken down and weak but what if he finds out like the first one who ran? What if HE runs?_

_ The first one knew nothing. He was an anarchist and a poor choice from the start, but now, we've found someone delicious and…and…PERFECT. He comes from the Veloria Smeetery under the capitol and his blood is pure! The other one was a chance mutt from the countryside who only got lucky to receive eye color and DNA so rich!_

_ I know, I know. I'm just saying all of this bloodletting is making me nervous that he'll catch on. You need to be more careful and come up with something better than telling him we're testing him for disease to keep him pure. He's an idiot, but he's not THAT dense._

_ Believe me, Lire, he doesn't know a thing. He will never know until it's too late._

* * *

**The present; the rugged, freezing countryside of Callnowia**

Purple cried out in guttural terror, screaming out his agonizing fear and falling back to the ground when Lire was forcibly yanked from his front before skittering away when the Schlorrips panicked at the sudden sound and stood, pounding his long, jiggly legs against the quartz and rocketing Zim from what was left of his high perch to land hard on his side and smack his temple against a crystal point jutting from below. The beast didn't know what to do, sensing distress and flicking it's innocent proboscis to and fro as it hissed and bristled, every stout, prickly hair on it's body standing straight and fluttering to taste the mayhem tinged air before squeezing itself instinctually between the antagonism and cutting Lire off from Purple completely. He blinked and pushed himself up as he feebly panted, sticky sweat pouring from his terrified form as he glanced up with wild eyes to where his new friend had plopped back down and refused to budge, grumbling and chortling in an almost…motherly way. Wait…the Schlorrips wasn't a _he_, she was a _she_ and Purple's piercing, blood chilling sobs had set alight her innate predispositions to shelter what she thought were the sounds of her venerable young squealing and writhing in horror at the hands of a callous, unforeseen enemy attempting to rip them in two and feed on their scrumptious fatty centers.

"Stay away from him! I know what you did and I'm gonna cut you to pieces! "

Red.

"General, let's not be hasty-"

"I'm not a fucking General! I'm Styx! _The_ Styx you threw away to marry that monster before you tortured my friend into becoming your slave! But that doesn't matter anymore. What matters is I'm _Red_ now and I'm going to destroy everything you and that idiot Del have ever worked for before I steal our Empire back for the people!"

"S-Styx? You're…we thought you were lost! No…It can't be you! That's imposs-"

"Shut up!"

Wait, had he forcibly ripped Lire away before he could hit him? Purple felt a pang of something he couldn't identify rip through his battered spooch when he noticed the voice sound again followed by the scuffling of Lire's all-too-familiar, manicured claws scraping against the once untainted quartz followed by a cry of overpowering, nauseating suffering twisting up into the air and startling the Schloripps to warble savagely once more as Zim struggled to come to from where he'd landed mercilessly amongst the white-hot, terrifying chaos. Something wet and viscous slammed into the ground and splattered in an abysmally mesmeric splash of bright, neon pink, giving Purple only an inkling of an eyeful from around the shuddering, heaving hairs of his protective friend blocking his tormented, frantic view when both voices went completely cold and silent. The wind howled outside as he struggled to his shaky knees and flew to his feet, latching on with erratic claws to the side of his apparently adopted mother and feeling his pulse lurch when the sound of a body hitting the floor followed by a shallow, uncoordinated groan grazed over his shivering stalks. The fire began to die away from afar, casting an eerie, phantomlike glow over the crystal and reflecting the carnage on every glassy surface like a devilish maze of nasty mirrors reminding Purple of his pathetic, terrifyingly cold past and alluding to what he feared more than anything.

Red had saved him from getting hit.

Red had tugged his worst nightmare free and engaged in brutal, ferociously violent combat with his abuser instead of watching from the sidelines like he always had. He'd kicked and thrashed and bit his way into Lire's flesh before becoming overpowered by his military skill and…and…

Purple clamped a clammy hand over his mouth and followed the gelatinous body of the Schloripps, noticing her heartrate had gone up under his palm as it raced through her body and only hammered more guttural horror back into Purple's wired, cracked psyche and tuned him in to the worst. Could Red have…could Red be….no. He couldn't have been…he couldn't be…_gone_? Gone? _Gone_? But…he was just here and they were just about to go to the capitol together to hunt for their people and undermine everything that Ipi and Del…wait. Del? Purple shook the encroaching throb of a headache from the base of his neck when he remembered something amidst the iron scented, murderous fog hanging over the once beautiful structure of the untouched natural beauty that had sheltered them all from the ravenous winter outside. Lire had come to argue with Del a little under six months ago about his punishment, or so he had thought, opening up a wave of heated debating and political upheaval in the middle of his opulent, gold leaf encrusted office for only his antennae to hear before he was whisked away to his next dire punishment for something he didn't do. They had talked at length about how Lire feared Purple rising up just as someone else had in the past, that someone he now knew to be the strong crimson gaze who'd come to deeply fancy him, because of the bloodletting they had continued to do in his time on the Massive. Purple swallowed against the acidic burn of primal fear hitting the back of his throat, squeezing his eyes shut when he heard a single set of lone footprints followed by a thick, strangled cough from the floor rebound and echo through the back shadows of the bottomless cavern. He struggled to understand why his PAK was reminiscing through his past torture now, while it was unfolding in real time before him and eliciting primordial flight or flight reflexes attempting to overtake his vindictive curiosity and draw him back into someplace safe and cozy. No…it was true, wasn't it? Lire had mentioned Prime Minister Ipi's name in his heated spat with Del, grumbling about the others and some kind of machinery that he didn't understand. Did Del and Ipi's alliance run deeper than the threadbare surface he had been exposed to in his preparations to become Tallest? Red had also pointed out that Ipi and Sen had connected them to the walls in their murky, shady, disgusting underground facility to be monitored by scientific agents and have their precious DNA stripped by tubing for some unknown, disturbing purpose that still lay beneath the thick glacier of ice encrusting the planet in its inhumanly fierce hold. Did…no that was crazy. All of this was crazy! Purple was merely stuck in the swirling perplexity of a foggy fugue state composed and coagulating in his violent past traumas and self-shielding bitterness to friendship he wanted to put behind him more than anything in the universe. Even so, he couldn't shed the obvious feeling of discontented disenchantment with Del and a profound, unnerving notion that the liters of blood his Tallest had sucked from his marrow had gone to aid something much darker and villainous than he had anticipated. Was his own DNA being collected in the form of his precious lifeforce? Why?

Why?

For what purpose?

Purple had been too terrified to step up and ask what was going on along the shady sidelines in the past but now…now he felt the burn. He felt the burn of Lavender Fire scorching through every capillary in his now flushed cheeks as he took a deep breath and peeled his sweat sticky hand from his mouth to hold himself high. He was a soldier, and soldiers didn't fear blood. They didn't fear the unknown but ran towards it and kicked it in the teeth until it fessed up what it and its pathetic excuse for a Tallest had been doing for the past five cycles since his inauguration to office. He gave himself a final nod of encouragement and patted the Schlorrips gently on the side in an attempt to pacify the deep rumble of a repulsive, simmering growl emanating from under her exoskeleton before finally reappearing and stopping dead in his now confident tracks to the grisly sight beneath him. It wasn't Red who'd bled against the crystal, but the gooey resonance of Lire's own body leaking away in languid sweeps to the floor as his friend stared down in shell-shocked awe, the serrated edge of his boot knife stuck up under his enemy's heaving ribcage and pierced cleanly through his abuser's spooch to travel alongside his spine and out through his back, globs of tendon rich blood seeping between Red's fingers as he held firm and refused to pull back.

Something was wrong.

Lire coughed once more, spitting to the side and shaking the bleary fringes of sudden death from his paling cheeks as he jolted and blinked a few times, glancing up without so much as a pained gasp in Purple's direction, instead flashing him a despondent, irate sneer that his project had seen him in such an uncanny state before running a goopy, shaky hand up over the side of his face. His blood was…strange. It crusted on contact, turning a dark, almost black, violet and tinging his skin with shades of shimmering lavender and a substance that looked like glittering stardust. He squinted and cocked his head when Red finally let go with a gasp, stumbling back and throwing a hand on Purple's waist without thinking as he slung his body in front of his as a shield to the merciless sight and trying to preserve what little innocence he still clung to. Purple swallowed to the feeling of Red's warm fingers against his waist for a second time since their meeting, feeling oddly safe in between him and the fuzzy pelt of the Schloripps buzzing behind him. Zim groaned from the ground and rolled onto his side, finally coming around with a low mumble as he clutched at the back of his head with a careful, tentative palm and hissed to the feeling of a lingering injury hitching deep in his skull.

"What…what the hell?" Red breathed in bitter devastation, digging his fingers into Purple's ribs as Lire sighed apathetically and forced himself up to his knees with a singular grunt of irritation at the pull of the blade razing his tiny chest before wrapping a hand around the hilt of Red's worn down knife, testing the give a bit and drawing a repulsed, shuddering wince from his attacker. "Irk, how do you not f-feel that?! I…you should be _dead_ what…how is that even possible?!"

"Shut up." Lire growled, staring up from where he refused to grovel on his knees from behind heavy, half-lidded eyes and a distastefully hideous, abhorrent curl of the lip that distracted from the dangers outside and pounded every single one of them into the vile disbelief of what was unfolding before them. He glanced down to Red's hand clutching protectively at Purple's waist and shook his head. "Goodness, I should have known. I should have known that you would fall for a creature so blindingly radiant. I can't say I didn't either in the beginning, but then it just became about business. Del told me to keep you broken and it looks like I did a good job, didn't I? You can't hardly stand without the help of this pathetic traitor to hold you up, can you?"

Purple turned away with a thick gag when Lire finally stood to his wobbly heeled boots and tugged teasingly on the black handle of Red's intrusive weapon, gritting his teeth as he maintained eye contact with the sweltering crimson stare attempting to singe and ignite his soul to little avail. He slid the deep cutting steel free and grimaced with every hitch of muscle tissue clinging to the serrated edge as he sliced back through his own destroyed flesh, drawing another spurt of vibrant pinkish blood to the ground before it dried on contact and turned to the bizarre violet dusting of starry glitter none of them had experienced before. He yanked again, letting loose a thick, overpowering growl as he tore through a thick, sinewy tendon before dropping the blade to the crystal below and nearly falling forward, wavering a moment as his wrinkled skin turned to something mangled and abhorrent, churning Red's stomach when he found he couldn't look away from the clean wound allowing him a tiny peek into the very organs that kept them all alive as Lire's hemorrhaged and spasmed within his ribcage. He shouldn't be alive. Not even a PAK could heal something that damming and well placed, and Red was almost positive he'd gone for vital organs with his blow. Lire's spooch was torn to shreds by a few swift stabs and had deflated to a sad sack of quivering tissue as it attempted to beat and weakly pump blood through his veins before giving up all together.

Still…he remained standing.

He remained _alive_.

Lire glanced down to the gooey mess of slipping organs and protruding ribs Red had gifted him before running a single swipe of a touch along the edge of his bone, feeling it with genuine, stunned curiosity before holding his dripping fingers up to whatever lingering light still remained from the shuddering, dying fire to inquisitively gawk at his own crumbing blood like it was the first time he had noticed the anomaly altogether. He rolled the crust between his fingers before letting it slip to the floor in sheets, blinking and amazed at the sight.

"Curious." He mumbled, furrowing his brow slightly before looking past his gloved claws to where Red stood dumbfounded with a retching Purple now clinging to his shoulders behind him and attempting not to look at the foul carnage tainting the air with the worst stench they'd both smelled in cycles. Lire noticed it as well, letting his breath hitch before a wave of overpowering panic set in like something had finally come to fruition in his ancient mind. "No….no he told me it wouldn't be this way! H-He promised me we would all be alright if we just listened and went through with everything he wanted!"

Red took a horrified, unsteady step back, ushering Purple along with his body when Lire folded back forward and fell to his knees to let his stoic, revolting personality flood away to be replaced with something overbearingly pathetic and loud as he screamed and begged for Red to kill him.

"D-Deactivate me! Deactivate me please! Rip my PAK free so I don't have to live like this! P-Please, General, it's the only way I'll be able to go!" He wailed on a repeated loop, gagging and choking a bit on his own blood turning to dust as the horrendous wound splayed open and let loose a torrent of tissues and veins to the dusty, grimy floor beneath him. "M-Make it stop! M-Make it s-stop it's not working! We failed, we failed everything, _please_, Irk, make it stop, I'll do _anything_! Del can't do this anymore he can't-!" He screamed derisorily, going catatonic as if his whole body cramped when Zim appeared from behind and forcibly ripped his hardware from where it rested coiled to his creaky spine and took the writhing mess of chords and shrieking titanium blowing off steam to the snow, chucking it as hard as he could with a shout.

Purple watched over Red's stiff shoulder as he hyperventilated in bristling, wretched terror when Lire faltered and lost the ability to speak, entering his merciful ten minute hibernation sequence that would put him in a time controlled coma before he was allowed to slip away and taste the sweet relief of the death he had so tragically cried and sobbed that he craved. He went completely limp, claws curling to his chest as his green eyes dulled and glazed over with a protective film to keep him from completely drying out during what his body expected to be a simple technology transfer, not ready to swallow down something as serious as the cessation of existence flooding with every shallow, ragged breath his past advisor took before cutting off his oxygen supply to stare unblinkingly at the mouth of the cave. Suddenly and without warning, a jolt of unabridged, heartbreakingly spiteful hatred festered like a boil within Purple's chest at the sight of the man that had stolen his will to live so venerable and easy to target, drawing him past Red's shoulder as his friend grappled in nauseated terror to what the hell had just transpired.

"You…you stole everything I had." Purple muttered from above, clenching his fists and feeling his bad eyelid finally flutter open enough for him to trail the wrinkled, ancient face of his worst fears leaking away at the sole of his lone dress shoe. He continued, knowing Lire's antennae would still work for up to five minutes and his biological brain would be able to process every hurtful truth spilling from his irate lips. "You and Del took me away from my chance to be something in the field of science with your stupid draft to go to war, then you took me away from my second purpose to be an Elite sniper. You stole my life and crushed it in your pathetic hands while I watched all because you wanted to sell me off like an animal to a woman I'd never met and use my body as your playground! Well you know what, Lire? I'm free and I'm never going back!" He reared back and kicked him hard in the stomach, watching as his body tried to respond before he screamed at the top of his lungs and scrambled down to grab for Red's knife, landing stab after ferocious stab to what remained of his tormenter's destroyed body. "I can't sleep without seeing you in my fucking dreams! I can't eat without panicking that I'll be punished for doing it wrong! I-I can't even touch someone's hand without thinking they're going to strangle me to death with it! You ruined me! You ruined me, you monster, you _ruined_ me!"

Red frantically reached out for Purple's waist to hoist him up from his overdone, rage fueled barrage, yelping when his elbow swung back to collide with the still healing bite the Schloripps had accidentally administered to his delicate side. "Purple, that's enough! He's already dead, anyway!" He tried to reason with him, to break through the hot, maliciously pungent, disgustingly vehement screeches piercing the air like a laser and releasing cycles of pent up aggression and white-hot, effervescing odium out to the snow. "Pur, stop! You're gonna hurt yourself!"

There was no sound. No taste, no sensation other than the pungent, gurgling wrath guiding Purple's hands on like he was nothing more than a well-oiled machine. Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty. Every stab brought release and closure, every puncture brought the tranquility of termination he had been hunting for. Thirty, thirty-one, thirty-two, thirty-three, thirty-four. Mechanized, smooth, natural, fleeting yet profoundly bottomless in weight and recognition. This was it. This was everything he had hoped it would feel like.

Fifty.

Fifty-one.

Fifty-two.

Fifty-three.

Fifty-four.

Purple could feel his pulse calm as he found a bouncing, dancelike rhythm and became lost to the grisly, gruesome splash of crusted, alien blood flooding against his cheeks in a spray of fine blowback, painting with every downstroke and wanting to throw his head back and laugh at the gorgeous masterpiece of vengeful justice he'd created when Lire finally went out cold and passed away in his shaking, but overpoweringly satisfied touch. He reached down and grabbed him by the jaw, mimicking every horrendous touch that he'd felt in return before spitting directly into his face and squeezing his now flaccid cheeks between his fingers.

"I'll make sure if I ever become Tallest, that no one in this Universe will ever remember your name." He growled, finally ceasing two long cycles of agonizing torture and letting his eyes flutter shut with the first sigh of genuine peace he'd felt since he left the balmy warmth of Red's bed.

All of the carnage was over. All of the late nights servicing the disgusting, putrid monster with his mouth as his fingers pressed into places that should never be caressed unless by the touch of a gentle lover were over. Lire was finally, _finally_ gone. He brushed off his ashen, peculiarly dusty blood with a frown and stood, stalking limply back to where Red had frozen in a mixture of impressed bewilderment and dumbfounded horror to the now unrecognizable mangle Purple had left Lire's chest in. He stooped slightly and wiped the blade on his pantleg before gingerly sheathing it back into its proper place alongside Red's calf before straightening back up and tentatively wrapping his arms around his neck in a gentle, lingering embrace that had Red nearly seeing stars at the gorgeous tenderness and kindness bouncing back to set his own thoughts alight with a cozy resonance unlike any other. He immediately returned it, scrambling to latch on to the only other warm body in the universe that understood in this moment what they had both gone through and what a monumental achievement the disgusting advisor's death really was. Purple didn't cry for once, pressing his cheek alongside Red's in an attempt to find some form of an anchor against the fluttering weightlessness and featherlight, intensely cosmic serenity swelling within him despite the hellish, terrifying mess he'd created at their feet.

"It's over." He whispered against Red's antennae, pulling away and moving instead to wrap his arms into the fuzzy down coating the side of the panting monster that had come to be his friend. "It's over for both of us now. He can't hurt me ever again."

Red didn't know what to say, nodding and feeling a tiny smile peak on his face when Purple looked back over his shoulder with a wide, ecstatically tear filled grin at the heavenly radiance flooding down to remind him that he was strong, he was beautiful, and he was more worth it than he had ever felt in the past. He was worth it.

"It's over." Red repeated with an untamed giggle, slinging his arms wide when Purple pushed lightly off the Schloripps and rocketed back into his colleague's hold, laughing dazzlingly when he hoisted him up for an irate, booming victory cry and spun him around when he threw his fists high in the air and let loose everything he'd bottled inside in the form of success.

Zim covered his antennae from afar, shooting the two a look before bounding back to where the utterly confused behemoth of an insect waited patiently for the affectionate, magnificent sounds to draw to a close. "My Tallers, please, you're going to wake up the whole planet and alert us to the enemy!" He hissed, struggling to scale the side of the Schloripps' wing casing. "Zim is happy you finally murdered your greatest nemesis, but we need to keep moving before we run out of darkness. We need cover to tunnel under the dome of the capitol so they'll never see it coming!"

Purple sniffed and wiped his wet cheeks on the shoulder pad of Red's jacket when he lowered him back down, holding him close with a bleary sigh before nodding into the fabric. "Sorry, I just needed to hold something." He giggled ecstatically. "I can't believe it's over. We're free, both of us. We're finally free."

Red pulled back with a silent, sympathetic smile and took Purple delicately by the hand, leading him away from the mangled, utterly destroyed form of his abuser finally tasting the accumulation of his inexcusably dreadful karma to help him gain purchase against the side of the Schloripps when her flank shivered with a chortle of delightful air being pushed like a vent from beneath her exoskeleton in preparation for flight. By the time Red had hoisted himself up, positioning himself in front of his friend to shield him from the dangers of the sub-zero temperatures, she was raring to go. Tiny Zim latched his claws into her fuzzy back when she heaved herself up to her six gargantuan, astoundingly powerful legs before skittering ecstatically out into the snow, kicking up massive pillows of stale ice crystals in her wake as she raced through the trees and stopped intermittently to sniff at frozen winter fruits that had fallen to the ground. Purple kept her focused, patting along her ribbed body as she miraculously understood every tender gesture and kindhearted whistle before ducking down to bury his face against Red's PAK for some semblance of artificially generated warmth. He kept one hand around his waist as their trek continued, holding tight with every powerful leap and bound the gentle giant took as she raced her familiar path towards her jumping off point at a nearby cliff, careful with his friend's wound and eventually snaking both arms up under his arms to rest against his chest. He could feel his heartbeat beneath his palms, steady and potent like an authoritative drum thrumming them all on towards their horrific destination and the chance to find everlasting peace for not just themselves but every lavender-eyed individual born on Irk. It was imperative that they succeed for the sake of themselves and their Empire, the Callnowians undoubtedly plotting something beneath the ice that still had Purple's spooch twisting in knots. He felt Red hunker down when their ride enthusiastically sprinted towards the overhang of a cliff they had passed on their miserable hike, taking a massive leap of faith and tucking her forelegs into her chest as her back four dangled aimlessly in the chilly breeze. Her durable, glassy wings hummed and buzzed to life as they descended rapidly, hitting a sharp wall of frigid air before reducing to a hover and gaining altitude once more when the ground below died away to the gloomy shadows stretching for miles upon miles into the distance. Purple felt safe here. He felt safe knowing his brutal torment was dead and gone, felt safe on the back of a natural wonder carrying them towards the skyline, felt safe with tiny Zim here to blast his way bravely through every obstacle and…he felt safe holding Red tightly from behind and absorbing his body heat like it were his own. Even here, even after all they had been through, he could still catch the lingering scent of his cologne on the back of his neck, enticing him beyond belief before he reminded himself of the incredibly harsh, overbearing conversation they'd had to have. Red needed to understand his issues with space and affection, and respect that Purple still had a lot of healing to undergo before he would ever feel worthy enough to venture something as profound as a relationship. Wait, what was he thinking? Did he mean he would want one with Red in the future? Did…did he? No, the guy was asinine and chaotic and had literally stalked him for just over six months but he was still…still something.

Something.

"What do you think was wrong with his blood?!" Red called back over the howl of the wind, squinting against the knifelike cold. "I've never seen anything like that!"

"Zim saw a similar substance in a biohazard bin hidden in Ipi's mansion!" Zim responded suddenly, struggling to keep on when the Schloripps dipped. "I thought it was just dirt but it looked exactly the same as what came out of that stupid officer's chest!"

Purple rested his chin on Red's shoulder and closed his eyes to the cold as he thought long and hard about what he'd heard in the past, peeking a moment and catching sight of the faint ridge of titanium marking the dome spanning the Callnowian capitol city still at least a mile out. "I remember something you guys might wanna hear! When I was on the Massive, Lire got into an argument with Del about how much blood he was taking from my body and mentioned Ipi's name like she was somehow involved in it! Lire was afraid that I would find out, and said something about a project they had been doing since they both graduated the Academy together!"

"What are you saying?! That Lire and Del have something to do with some kind of gross blood experiment?! Why the hell would they do that?!" Red exclaimed in bewildered confusion. Purple shrugged, jutting out his bottom lip and furrowing his brow until his cold stiffened face ached. "Look, I don't know, it just sounded like it could have something to do with why he was like that! Did you see the lack of pain he felt when he pulled your knife out of his chest and freaked out when he saw all of his gross insides all over the ground?! There's something seriously wrong here, Red!"

Red turned back to the incoming city, narrowing his eyes as he gazed out over Zim's petite figure to the tiny pinprick of sunlight cresting on the horizon. They would have to act fast.

"I know…and I have a hunch we're about to find out what!"

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Interesting. Thank Irk Lire is finally dead! I hated him so much and I hated having to write him because he was so nasty all the time! Thanks for your continued support and I'm happy you guys like this dastardly fic! Stay tuned and I'll see you next time, angels!

**Next Update: Sunday February 9, 2020 at 10:00 pm CDT (UTC-5)!**


	11. Mangled

Welcome back to our weekly episode of Fire in the Snow! I'm excited for this chapter because we're finally getting out of the snow and infiltrating some fun, dark, musty places to dig up some spooky secrets! I wanted to thank you for your continued reviews and support because I appreciate it so much!

Welcome **Shal96, Allybile,** **x-Chappy-x** and **AimTrekRaider7** (have I already welcomed you? If I have welcome again!) to the follow and favorite families! Thank you guys so much!

**XxDNSxx:** Thank you so much for your continued reviews! I wanted to let you know, I have NO intention of dropping this fic! It's my baby, and I love it! Thank you love!

**Larrimeme:** I am still updating on You, Plus Me, Equals Three and I'll be filling your request soon! I just got busy and had to step away for a short period of time to do some art for a gallery showing! Thank you for your requests love and for continuing to support my work!

**Chapter rated M for graphic depictions of blood/violence/gore, graphic depictions of medical procedures, obvious allusions to mental disorders/PTSD, brief heavy language, perilous situations, and general adult content.**

* * *

They were losing the night, feeling it bite at the fluttering fuzz of the Schloripps' thick coat and scratching at her ankles as she buzzed and flitted about aimlessly for purchase against the heavy, continuous gust of the jetstream. Red held tight, fisting her fur and squinting as he shivered through the blowback of vicious ice crystals slamming into his raw, wind-whipped cheeks and almost blinding him completely to the rapidly encroaching dome of Bornau, attempting to take a breath and finding his lungs dangerously compressed in the thin air. He reached up and unhooked his Elite respirator from his chest, popping the casing and tugging free his glittering, metallic mask before passing it back and shooting Purple a look, urging him to sling it on for his own safety when he noticed him loll dangerously with airsickness. Thankfully, he didn't put up much of a fight, graciously accepting the pressure-controlled device and incredibly appreciative that the woozy, overpowering buzz in the back of his skull finally subsided to leave him with the much needed clarity he'd been searching for to pump himself up for the inevitable unpredictability of the city he'd never seen. Red narrowed his eyes in exhilarating anticipation when he heard his friend whistle sharply behind his mask, grinning as the Schloripps instantly responded to his call and dove into a steep drop, rocketing Zim back against his chest and drawing a terrified screech from his lips that was lost to the whoosh and dance of the snow pounding down around them and freezing them all to the bone. The sanctity of the rush, the feeling of freedom without threat of being shot down, the tingle of weightlessness ripping through his spooch was beyond exciting; Red felt like he was at the very pinnacle of the universe, a proverbial prince of everything he could see and more as he tried to keep his eyes open and drink in the heavenly, gorgeous fireburst of vivid daylight yawning over the horizon and painting streaks of brilliant greens and slathering mauves across the cloudy atmosphere. If the Callnowians didn't live here and wreck utter chaos over their collective lives, he would have ventured to say that the sight was one of the most beautiful he'd seen in a long while. But, as the sound of six sharp claws grazed the insulated titanium of the Bornau Dome below them, all he could think about was the grisly, gruesome horrors of Lire's sooty, crusted organs spilling in mangled heaps to the crystal clear quartz beneath his feet as his blood turned to literal dust and fluttered away in the breeze like starlight. He had screamed violently at Red and pathetically begged him to end his life, to take him out of the appalling suffering he obviously couldn't feel but could see nonetheless.

Something was so wrong…so very wrong.

He just didn't know what.

Red was no scientist. He had dropped out of the Academy for his lack of academic achievement to enroll directly in the accelerated Elite program on Devastis, forgoing a stable job to throw himself on the front lines as one of millions of expendable bodies with a death wish before he was whisked away from his position as a pilot in training to undergo two long cycles of Callnowian cultural training and marry the now deceased Sen. He shuddered when the Schloripps began her final, careful descent, feeling Purple's comforting grip tighten around his chest and Zim dig his jagged claws hard into his thighs to keep from slipping off as he wailed in guttural terror about how he would never do anything as risky as ride the Callnowian wildlife again for as long as he lived. Sen…Lire had mentioned her when Red had remained fervently adamant about her skull-shattering death. Purple had blasted half of her once perfect, plastic laden face with the searing boom of a plasma shot, obliterating her delicate marrow and spraying her glittering black blood over the interior of her opulent, overly lavish ship as her royal guard panicked and scrambled to hoist up her lifeless body from where she had collapsed ruthlessly against her seat. She was dead. She was completely, wholly, brazenly deceased. Still, Lire had looked up from below in disgusted uncertainty, beady jade eyes piercing every layer of his thick skin as he let loose something horrendously confusing;

_Sen is deceased? That's impossible, she can't die._

Can't die.

Was it just shock? Was it a statement of perplexity or was it something deeper than the shallow surface? Red felt the what little air he could draw in force its way from his lungs when their jiggly-legged friend landed hard on her appendages, kicking up snow as her knees absorbed the shock and wavered as waves of pressure cascaded over her body and vibrated up Red's spine. Zim yelped and lost his balance, sliding free from his perch and falling the meager twelve feet from her back to the pillowy embankment where he was promptly swallowed by the snow and disappeared momentarily from sight. No, no, this wasn't making any sense. Was Red just thinking too hard about the whole mess and seeing things between the bewildering lines of context in his exhaustion that didn't actually exist? Yeah, that was probably it. All he knew for certain was that Lire, in the low warming light of the cavern, wasn't Irken. He was something different and he and Del were involved in something erroneous that went against the very forces of nature herself. His blood had somehow been wrongfully modified and stunk of foreign chemical reeking, terrifyingly sedating substances none of them recognized when it hit the air and almost gagged them out of the game. Whatever it was, and whatever Del had agreed to as Purple had claimed to overhear in the past, Red was sure it had to do with the estimated five thousand missing citizens none of them could seem to locate. They were displaced, if they were even alive at this point, and hidden away for bizarre, alien scientific advancement that made his blood pressure spike and his head spin with far more unsolved problems than disturbing answers. He wasn't even sure he wanted to know at this point for fear of what he may unearth from the snarling, gooey shadows taunting him from afar in a vacillating, formless tango of horror and nightmarish visions plaguing him every time he closed his eyes. He was still shaken up by the image of Lire's depleted, popped spooch shuddering in his chest and deflating…how was he able to stand? How had his PAK remained calm with such a dire wound festering and oozing from the deep, vital stab Red had thrust under his ribcage?

"Red, come on! We'll get caught!"

Red almost hadn't registered the sound of Purple's feet hitting the crispy ice encrusted snow below, shaking his own mind-numbing anxieties free and tucking them behind his resolve to find his people as he glanced down to where his friend had hissed in irritation at his catatonic fugue state. He reached forward and took his chilly hand, gripping at his fingers as he helped him stumble gracelessly down and land haphazardly on his heels as Zim poked up from where he'd been all but swallowed by nature to brush the frigid substance from his now completely frozen, stiff antennae. The Schloripps stood and shook her quivering flank as it twitched, pounding through the snow and turning to sprint as she played before flopping down onto her side and rooting through the embankment. Purple tried to get her attention, throwing his hands on his hips as he whistled only to stomp lightly in frustration, peeling his mask away and passing it back to his colleague when he tried again.

"Flicky, quit screwing around and get back over here!" He halfheartedly demanded, tightening his grip on his thin undershirt and narrowing his eyes when the Schloripps refused to acknowledge the rise in his tone in favor of continuing her trilling, chittering rolling, kicking her six long limbs high into the air. "Flicky, _stop_! You're gonna get us caught!"

"_Flicky_? What the hell, you actually named it?" Red sneered in distain, fumbling to clip his respirator back in place over his breastplate before turning and stepping over where Zim continued to collect himself. He placed a hard palm against the side of the dome and blinked, letting his ocular implants hum to life and scan through deserted, dark streets of the city. "Don't get too attached to it, Pur. You know we have to release it back into the wild after it burrows us into Ipi's mansion." He reminded, squinting and moving to the left to glance around what looked like a general store as he strained to remember the layout of the gridwork eluding him.

"She's not an _it_, Red, and yeah, I named her Flicky because she's always flicking her proboscis around like she owns the place. She's a big old diva and she deserves a name!" Purple retorted hotly, clapping his hands together and grinning when Flicky finally noticed, her five stalks of eyes craning forward from their protective covering as she all but froze to listen. "That's better! Thank you. Now, I need you to listen very carefully and-"

"Irk, quit talking to her like she understands what you're saying, idiot." Red grumbled in annoyance, trying to drown out the maddening baby speak resounding from his back and breaking his intense focus. "She's a Schloripps, Purple and all she understands is how to eat and fly."

Purple shot his antennae forward and jutted out his bottom lip, turning away from his grumpy companion to run a hand over the prickly, sensitive hairs dotting the length of Flicky's legs when she finally returned covered with fur matted with half melted snow. "Don't listen to him, Flicky, he's just angry that he didn't get any sleep and that I like you better." He bit with a sly grin when Red glanced over his shoulder and shook his head in disappointment before returning his gaze to pierce the metal, pressing his chest into the titanium as he scanned for the telltale spires of Ipi's marble estate.

"No, I'm pissed that your pet stabbed me and that we have to raid one of the most heavily guarded places on this damn planet without any weapons or a getaway ship." Red explained realistically, trying to keep his voice tame. "There's three of us and thousands of guards running the halls of this place, and now that we killed the daughter of the most important politician in this half of the quadrant, they'll all be looking for us."

Zim stood and popped his spine, plodding through the dense embankment to Red's side as he worked. "Zim doesn't remember any guards in the catacombs." He began slowly, watching his commanding officer stare blankly into the paneling of the dome as he mapped out a plan of attack and mumbled street names over and over to himself to drill them into his flighty memory. "It was completely abandoned and looked like it hadn't been used in cycles."

"Do you remember a way to get into the main hall from below?" Red asked shortly, finally locking on to the gargantuan, multi-leveled building that housed his deliciously important target. "The map you drew out died with the ship and…our friends. I didn't look it over well enough to memorize it so I need you to think very carefully and tell me what end of the building we need to make it to in order to snake up the back and take Ipi by surprise. We're going to kill her, but I need to get her off to the side and interrogate her without anyone noticing she's gone. We can't let anyone die without finding out where they've taken our people, first."

Zim chuckled pridefully, puffing out his chest as he thought. "I never forget, my Taller. It's…eh…the south side. No, the north side." He brought a finger to his lips as he thought long and hard about the layout of the site from below, scanning through rooms and chambers in his head. "Wait! It's the east side for sure!"

Purple led Flicky over, gingerly rubbing a palm along her cool, gelatinous foreleg and rolling his eyes. "Ugh, you really don't know do you?" He turned to Red and threw a hot finger down at his volatile liability of a friend. "Your stupid demolitions 'expert' is going to lead us right into the city square and get us all killed!"

"I know, I know. He was in an explosion as a smeet that fried some of his internal hardware so he's a bit…off." Red reminded, talking over Zim's attempts to interject his own opinion into the conversation. "Zim, if you don't get your act together, I'm going to be forced to relieve you from Lavender Fire and Purple and I will do this ourselves."

Zim glared back at Purple, eating him with his eyes as a dark, appallingly hateful expression flashed behind his magenta eyes. "As I was saying," he spat sadistically, "there's a service entrance along the east corner of the catacombs that I'm sure stops on every level of the building."

Red blinked as he ran his calloused stare over the four gargantuan pillars of the mansion he used to reluctantly call home. There were eighteen guards stationed at the front and two patrolling the white hot electronic gate, swallowing at the thought of millions of volts of blistering plasma melting him to nothing more than a smoldering pile of ash if they played this wrong. He moved a bit more to the left, struggling to see past an immaculately clean cosmetics factory and catching sight of another…three? Yeah, three guards stationed along the east side of the structure and chatting leisurely in the all-encompassing darkness the dome rained down upon them all. They would be cutting it close.

"You're sure?" He muttered under his breath, internally regulating his lenses to sputter off with a tiny click. "You're absolutely positive the east side is where we need to be?"

Zim didn't skip a beat, nodding in unwavering loyalty and grinning in powerful satisfaction when Red turned back to where Purple waited stewing in his thin patience. He trailed the length of Flicky's powerful diggers of claws and chewed nervously on his lip when deep, profound doubts began to creep into his spooch. This was a devastatingly flawed plan with a crushingly pathetic lack of detail. If Flicky caught wind of something deliciously sugary in the city and decided to take them off of their blind path to hunt for her next meal, she could potentially get all four of them slaughtered and strung up in the square as examples of what the Callnowian government rained down upon noncompliance. He couldn't stomach the thought of tiny Zim fluttering in the breeze as his goopy entrails dangled freely from his abdomen, or the mind-shattering image of Purple's beautiful, soft face shot execution style before his head was planted on a spike at the gate of the city. Red had a self-proclaimed duty to keep them both safe, sheltering them in his broken visage of metaphorical wings under his breath and growing twitchy at the thought of putting someone so delicate and someone so short in perilous danger at the hands of an instinct driven Schloripps.

There was no other way, was there?

They couldn't walk through the city and knock on Ipi's door in their tattered uniforms caked with dusty, unnatural blood and scarred to utter hell. They would be apprehended before they made it to the main thoroughfare, and the prospect of sneaking up through the catacombs, no matter how traumatic and horrifying it would be to return to something that dank and miserable, was enough to push Red back over the edge.

"Alright, um…Flicky." He thrust a commanding, authoritative finger up, feeling ridiculous when the cheesy, childish name grazed his tongue. "I don't know if you understand what I'm saying or not, but we need you to dig us exactly," he turned back and squinted back through his electronic enhancement, gauging the distance, "nine hundred and fifty-seven feet to the hard east so we end up directly under the belly of the capitol. Then you'll need to burrow us up into the vaults of the Manson. Got it?"

Purple erupted in a fit of laughter when Flicky chirped and unfurled her long mouthparts, sniffing and licking around Red's uniform as he yelped and tried to get away from her intrusive, perceptive sniffer. "You total jerk, Red. You had more chocolate and you didn't tell any of us?" He teased, only half mad at the idea of being douped out of a scrumptious, small meal as his stomach rumbled. "She understands you completely so don't talk to her like she's stupid. Schloripps have language recognition built into the thalamus of their brain, almost like a natural translator. Lire taught me that, so I guess he was good for something." He paused and moved forward, maintain sly eye contact as he reached down and grazed Red's pocket with his fingertips, dipping them slowly inside and tugging free the secret, half eaten chocolate bar he'd kept hidden from the rest of the team. "You better pay up if you want her to take us there."

Red shivered at the surprisingly friendly whisper, feeling it shudder down his spine and warm him to his toes as his forgotten, nearly melted candy was taken and unwrapped by delicate, spidery fingers and tossed high into the air. He ricocheted out of his fog and shouted when Flicky impulsively skittered forward and regurgitated nauseatingly into the snow, forcing Red to turn away in sickened disgust when she began slurping and sucking on the goopy, acidic mixture.

"That's the nastiest-" He was cut off when the behemoth finished and wailed, bounding forward on ecstatic, curious legs and going to town at the base of the dome.

Flicky was unexpectedly quick, flattening her sturdy, glassy wings to her fuzzy body and throwing huge clumps of earth and roots this way and that as she raked and razed her way into the ground, disappearing from sight into a wide, gaping cavern and sniffing out her way as she went. Purple grabbed Red firmly by the arm and charged forward, pushing him into the dark, grimy hole before snatching Zim around the waist and forcibly chucking him along after his friend. He chuckled at their collective disgusted gripes and hopped down, willing his PAK to glow as Flicky made quick work of the tunnel, excreting a strange, sticky fluid from her knees to keep the soil in place so it wouldn't collapse in on itself.

"This is incredible!" Purple exclaimed as he skipped through the mud, taking mental notes and recording everything he saw deep in his mechanical hardware as he followed closely behind in fascination. "Do you know how useful she would be back on Irk?! She could help dig out trenches for the infrastructure in less than thirty minutes!"

Red and Zim weren't nearly as ecstatic, pulling their once decent boots free from goopy mud mixing in with Flicky's natural secretions and trying not to shudder in absolute revulsion to the feeling of dripping soil smearing down their already blood caked cheeks and groaning as Purple elatedly kept on, singing praise back to the dutiful Schloripps as she paused and sniffed at a tiny insect crawling along and unnerved by the radiating glow of lavender seeping off of Purple's PAK.

"This is disgusting!" Zim exclaimed heatedly, frantically wiping his soiled gloves down his front and whining out loud when he realized he couldn't find a way out of the claustrophobic, germy space closing in around him. "There's so much filthy filth and hideous root things I can't take it!"

"Calm down, we're almost there anyway." Red stuck out his tongue in repelled abhorrence when a glob of slimy muck landed on his shoulder and stained his uniform beyond belief. He tried to focus on the distance in his ocular lenses, guiding Flicky on as she paved the way to their risky assassination attempt and scanning the streets above. "You need to go to the left a bit, Schloripps. At this rate, you'll put us right outside the eastern wall."

Flicky warbled and complied, her clawing gaining zealous traction as she chucked clumps back into Zim's face and earned another aghast shriek of revolting hatred. "It's so sticky and hideous down here and filled with all kinds of germs! This isn't how the life of an Irken invader is supposed to go!"

"You delusional idiot, just keep going." Red snapped, feeling his frayed nerves wear dangerously thin as Purple collected soil samples and stored them in his PAK for later. "And you, what the hell are you doing?"

"I'm collecting samples so when I get to the nebula and get my own place, I can study this stuff and see what kind of tiny organisms live inside all these rocky, clumpy folds!" He giggled maddeningly, clearing his throat when he realized how ridiculous he must sound and continuing on with the last stretch of their trek. "Ah, anyway, how close are we?"

"Twenty feet. We need to burrow up." Red instructed, happy that Flicky got the point and directed her attention upwards, fanning her wings for balance as she rapidly scaled the wall to her makeshift ceiling. "Damn, I'll give it to her; she's really helpful. This would have taken days for us to dig out ourselves and she did it in what, three minutes?"

Purple nodded, grabbing for Zim once again and tossing him high into the air, happy when he got the point and threw out his PAK legs to stabilize himself against the tunnel and hoist himself up into an echoy, mysterious freakshow of a room he hadn't previously seen. Purple watched from below, shooting Red a look of perplexed bewilderment when Zim called back out in terror and nearly tripped forward into the hole as he went pale and attempted to wave the others up, stuttering on a repeated, terrified loop at what he'd seen before dropping to his knees and covering his mouth to stare blankly back at whatever was squeezing the words from his senses. Red pushed past and went first, feeling his spooch turn and flip before knotting as he quickly scaled the loose walls and grunted, hoisting himself up and reaching out for Zim to grab him when he nearly slipped. He grumbled in irritation when his friend ignored him completely, instead grasping at the chipped tile of the floor from where Flicky had scratched her way through and acid ate the concrete and steel support bars, tugging himself up and rolling up onto the surprisingly pristine floor. He coughed, reaching down and latching onto Purple's wrist when he extended up for his touch, using all of his strength to pull him to his side through the jagged opening where they laid for a few seconds to catch their breath.

Red blinked when his surroundings came into the forefront and alerted him to the scent of sterile gauze and medical tape tinged with something horrendously metallic he hoped wasn't what he thought it was. The light was dim and Flicky had squeezed herself into the tiny box of a room, pressing up against the metal of the sanitized ceiling before making her way towards the hole to brush her hairy legs over the side of Purple's exhausted cheek.

"I hope I see you again, big girl." He grinned, nodding her on as she scrambled out, her scratching and chittering fading away into the darkness and leaving them with only the faint reoccurring beep of a delicate pulse monitor and the hum of atmospheric tanks pumping hydrogen into alien lungs breaking the silence. "Red? Is this…what is this?"

Red pushed up on unsteady arms and glanced to Zim, immediately feeling the color drain from his cheeks as he followed his fixed, terrified gaze to the left across the hole to where a massive sheet of murky sanitary plastic had been hung up for privacy, fluttering and wavering disturbingly where the end of a dark table pressed up against the plastic and darkened it to a shadowy gloom that set Red's skin to crawl. He reached out and grabbed for Purple by the shoulder, pulling him to his feet and keeping his grip along his scapula as they both stared on in utter horror when a faint grumble and something barely seen shifted through the blinding light of the overhead lamp, sucking them all in to the dubious, bloody unknown and freezing them in their muddied boots. Purple flew up and gripped at Red's hand, digging his once perfectly manicured claws into his white knuckles and stifling a panic stricken yell when the nightmare vision groaned long and low and moved again, slinging up off the metal platform and rustling about gracelessly before speaking in a voice so disgustingly sweet and familiar none of them believed it was true. No…it couldn't be. Lire…Lire was right?

Lire was right.

"I knew…you would come home…I can smell it."

Red took a step back when his jaw dropped in utter terror, the cloudiness splitting as six waiflike fingers pinched and teased at the misty plastic, giving him a tiny glimpse into the deep skintone he'd come to recognize so well. Lire was right. He was right but how?! How was this possible?! Glittering black blood dripped to the floor and oozed past the titanium leg of the table, stopping short in its lazy tracks to crust nauseatingly and turn to nothing more than a pile of ashen crumbles and violet tinged dust. Zim cried out at the sight and scrambled back in a heap of gawky limbs when his PAK beeped out his rising pulse and sent norepinephrine to his mind to attempt and calm the tidal wave of horror radiating off of him in sweeps to engulf his two commanding officers where they panicked. They needed to leave. They needed to leave now.

"I can smell your…beautiful cologne, Styx."

No.

There was no way this would ever be possible. There was no way she…_she_ was here.

Purple flicked his antennae back in mind-numbing, agonizing fear when three gory pads gripped sveltely around the edge of the sanitary shield, tugging lightly against the suspension and popping a few of the hooks free and letting them clank vibrantly to the pale floor before giggling. The voice. _That_ voice. She was teasing them. She was toying with them like a carnivorous Hogulus running for timid prey as she sat back down and bent to slip on two patent leather, Plookesian heels at her leisure, poking each of her two claw pointed toes through the slit and standing with a huff and a flippant sigh of relief when her long, wiry spine audibly cracked back into place. The sounds of lingering rigor mortis sounded, stiff joints and jawlines snapping free as blood began to flow once more and horrendous wounds lay gaping like the mouth of gory, tendon stinking caverns.

"And you, my sweet Purple, I'm so disappointed in you. But, I guess I can forgive you and let you have a second chance to prove your loyalty to me. I understand how difficult it is to leave your home and be given to someone you don't know."

Half mangled flesh, teeth barely clinging to sockets and held together by a mash of black, sentient hair undulating in the shadows. Three eyes intact, two obliterated and popped like candy as bone jutted at awkward, quickly mending angles to fight off the threat of gangly infection and festering puss oozing down her plasma burned, melted skin. She smiled, swallowing a clotted wad of blood as Purple and Red stared on in glassy, shattered terror, their minds going on autopilot as the plastic was brushed to the side and the lavish click of her expensive, powerful heels rebounded and deafened them both. Zim looked away, averting his gaze from the terror of everything he had imagined and becoming shell shocked when his nightmares came true and manifested as a singed, zombie-like mirage throwing her hand on her hip before them.

They had to leave.

They had to leave.

They had to leave.

It was a mistake to come here…to see this abomination of a patchworked freakshow stitched together with the finest of silks and shrouded in tantalizing suede as her free tongue lolled from the blown open, annihilated cheekbone flooding away like liquid as it slipped and slid down her neck.

Sen.

Sen was...alive?

* * *

EW Sen sounds gross! But…Lire was RIGHT? What?! How is that possible?! I guess we'll find out later on! Like I've said in my review, I will be posting on Wednesdays because I ended up getting a full time art job! Yay! I will not be abandoning this, and I hope you guys have fun!

**Next Update: Wednesday, February 19, 2020 at 10:00 pm CDT (UTC-5)! See you then!**


	12. Trust Him

Welcome back to this episode of Fire in the Snow! We left off on quite the cliffhanger and damn, I've been ready to write more for this! As always, thanks for the support you've consistently given me, and I love you all! Thank you angels!

_**SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT**_: For those of you who followed my other work "**My Kind**," I will be launching a second part to that story on Saturday! (Saturday February 22, 2020 at 10:00 pm CDT, UTC -5) This came with popular demand and tons of messaging on my Instagram and Tumblr asking me to bring it back, so now it'll have a second part! We're naming it _My Kind: Honey, I'm Home! _The entire cast will be returning; Purple, Red, Zil, Teem, Kez, Lard Nar, and Pem will all play major roles along with someone…new. I hope this is exciting to some of you, and I hope I can see some of you show up for the release!

Thanks to **pupupumirrorbat** for adding this fic to your favorites and thank you **SilverSong8** for joining the follow family! I love you both!

**Chapter rated M for graphic depictions of blood/gore/violence, graphic depictions of medical procedures, brief heavy language, suggestive themes, perilous situations, and general adult content!**

* * *

Sen reached up and ran a palm over the gooey, ashen razed half of her melting visage, plucking free stray tendons and peeling them away from her jawline like worms before letting them slop to the concrete. She tapped her heel incessantly, watching as Red scrambled to grab for Zim and sling him behind his back with Purple who stood completely dumbfounded by the lack of physical agony she was experiencing from such an extensive blow. None of them could comprehend what was happening anymore; first Lire's spooch deflated before their very eyes and his blood turned to a dusty, crusted mess of intergalactic stars and now this? Sen looked terrible, disgusting, and wholly mutilated as she crossed her arms and waited for a response, turning away in appalled hatred when Red stifled a gag and averted his gaze, clamping a hand over his mouth as he willed himself to breathe through the torture of seeing something so disturbingly dark and gruesome. Purple reached up and frantically grabbed at his shoulders when he threatened to break down, eyeing Sen from afar and gripping into his friend's scapula with tender fingers as he stared her down and crept at a snail's pace towards Red's calf boots, running his exhausted touch down his side when he violently retched before snatching rapidly for the sharp titanium of his sheathed boot knife and throwing himself into the forefront to take on the grisly monster crossing her arms over her petite chest.

"Honey, that's not going to do you much good at this point. Why won't you just give in and come upstairs with me?" Sen asked, growing oddly exasperated as her broken voice was muffled by the squelching of deep black blood dripping against her slimy tongue. "You love me and we're meant to be together so-"

"I don't love you! I don't love _any_ of you!" Purple cried back, feeling a spike of anger hit him square in the spooch and blind him to his usually calm disposition. "I didn't love Lire, I don't love Del, and I sure as hell don't love a freak like you! I'm my own man and I don't have to follow your orders like your little violet eyed pet!"

Red wiped his mouth on the back of his hand and shot Purple a woozy look from where he'd collapsed to his knees, forcing himself back up to face his bottomless, gnawing fears and stand strong by his side. "You don't own him, Sen. You don't own any of us and," He thought a moment, narrowing his eyes when he came around and noticed the tiny twitch in her fingers and the anxious shifting of her intact eye darting around the dimly lit medical chamber. "What's wrong with you? You…haven't made a move."

Purple mirrored Red's movements, lowering his knife when what was left of Sen's bottom lip quivered dangerously in her obliterated jaw, threatening to spill horrendously searing tears down her skin to wash away the caked blood streaking her chin. She was obviously distressed, hanging back near her operating table and reaching back with erratic hands to grip at the sterile lip of the metal as she sniffed and chewed on her tongue before her thoughts consumed her and turned her on her stiletto heel to grab for her matted coat draped elegantly over the counter. She hectically brushed aside tools and gauze, breaking into a round of terrifyingly out of character bawling that froze everyone in their boots and bewildered Purple beyond recognition. He cocked his head in tentative curiosity as the lanky woman who had claimed him rummaged frantically through drawers in sheer desperation for anything she could find to cover her plasma mauled face. She gave up when another shuddering, mind-numbing sob forced her to sit, instead slinging her furry coat over her trembling shoulders and sniffing thickly as her hood was pulled up around her half full head of wavering, sentient hair to stare blankly at the far wall. She looked away after a few long, drawn out seconds and shook her head, bringing her knees together and kicking her heels from her sore feet as Purple let his guard down completely, flicking his antennae forward when she refused to make coherent eye contact after a few attempts. He kept careful hold of Red's knife, venturing a bit more confidence when he realized they'd somehow pacified Sen into submission and had her cowering at their feet like Flicky had when Red threatened to clout her in the geode cave. She was unsteady and looked ready to collapse in her own despair, a surprisingly insecure one-woman earthquake in lavish clothing stained in foreign blood he still didn't understand and beckoning him on like a siren's song. Was it a trap? This could all be an elaborate ploy to suck him in before she raked through his delicate skin with her long, manicured claws and forced him under the blade of an unforgiving scalpel. Red followed, leaving Zim behind to cover his glassy eyes to the nauseating stench of rotting flesh and metallic, iron-laden platelets staining everything they touched as Purple crept ever closer through the shadows to examine the pathetic, soft crying peaking his innate sense of scientific curiosity. He was muddy, bloody, and coated in the stench of shame and Red's haunting, silvery cologne. He was frozen down to his frostbitten toes and so exhausted he wasn't sure if what he was seeing through his raw eyes was real anymore or a mirage injected into his system to torture him with nightmarish visions he could never escape from. Still, through all of the raw, chapped fingers and thrashing, stabbing pangs of sickening hunger swelling within his abdomen, he kept on towards a being so impure and erroneous he should have never even thought to approach her in the first place. Sen was to be his wife, his arranged forever and eventual half of the Empire he never asked to inherit and most likely wouldn't now that he was to be pegged as an intergalactic anarchist and vicious terrorist in Del's manic, twisted gaze. Still, they needed to find their displaced, tormented people and Sen's supposedly weakened state could, hopefully, prove to be an advantage for a while.

"Sen? Can you hear me?" Purple hissed through the gloom, renewing his white-knuckled grip when Sen panicked and shot a piercing stare back in his direction to halt his front. Three hysterical, frenzied eyes beat back against his own and refused to blink as her stare intensified tenfold in an instant, prickling over Purple's skin and heating him to dangerous, horrific levels. "Sen," he repeated slowly and tenderly, trying to use the same tactic he had with Flicky when she was startled, "I know you're in pain, but you have to listen to me. I'm not going to hurt you if you tell me what I need to know."

"_Pain_? You really think I still feel anything after all we've done?" Sen mumbled back, her sight bouncing from Purple's look of contemplative unease to Red's shuddering disgust. "T-That's the problem! I feel nothing anymore! Mother told me this would all be ok if I married a purple Irken boy but look how well _that_ turned out! Styx ran away because he thought I was awful and you shot me in the face because you thought I was going to hurt you!"

Purple blinked, taken aback by the abrupt bitterness to Sen's teary tone, lowering his weapon completely when he heard her sigh long and low behind the hood of her plush coat. "Wait, are you telling us you don't feel pain?" He asked, genuinely caught off guard and curling his lip when Sen nodded forlornly. "You don't feel _anything_ at all?"

"Irk, _that's_ what you're worried about?" Red huffed, swallowing down another gag and not seeing the bigger picture in his sickened irritation. "She's literally falling apart and…ugh…" He couldn't finish his sentence, squeezing his eyes shut and holding a hand out for balance as he forced himself to take a deep inhale to keep from doubling over and getting physically sick once again.

"I thought you were going to be kind to me, Styx." Sen whimpered, slumping forward and immediately regretting it when another rogue tooth dislodged from her jawline and pattered to the table. She threw her hands over her face and sobbed, clawing at her destroyed beauty and shivering when her form attempted to go into shock but faltered in a mysterious, medically induced fugue. "I hate it! I-I hate it here! I have to keep up an image in front of mother's guards and be all 'posh and proper' to maintain the royal standards of my family line but that's not me! I hate being rude, I hate being the bitch she wants me to become, and it's hurting everyone around me! I-I had a husband and she…s-she…"

Purple brought a finger to his lips when Red clenched his fists and went to retaliate, gently silencing him but still keeping a safe distance. "Sen, listen to me very carefully. I shot you because you wanted me to shoot Red and Zim when they were completely innocent and I couldn't bring myself to live with that. I was being sold into slavery by my Tallest to marry and serve you, not to be a loving husband. I don't even like women and I'm expected to love one?" He took a step forward, taking Red by the wrist and dragging him along. "Everyone in the star system knows your planet as something ruthless and profane and I've gone through cycles of fear to prepare for more at your own hand so I wasn't about to let myself slip into a lifetime of deprivation and sexual abuse just to satisfy a treaty you think is right."

"That's just it; I _don't_ think it's right! I've been trapped here by my own mother, modified by your people's crack science and given a disgusting gift I never even wanted! I fought to keep the blood out of my system but they locked me down here and injected me with it anyway against my will and now I've become a rotting shell of what I used to be!" Sen shouted suddenly, rocketing Zim's attention back from where he hung back in shellshocked perplexity. She jabbed a finger at Red, who's frown only deepened in sweltering confusion with her next accusation. "I had to sleep with him, and they told me they would kill me if I didn't make it convincing! They already shot my husband to make room for me marrying off to one of you and I can't stand it anymore!"

What?

Sen…she was on their side?

Lies. This was all an elaborate lie. It had to be.

Blood, so much talk of blood. So many gruesome images flashing across ocular lenses. Molars clattering to the floor, tendons waving in the breeze, eye sockets craning to see when firm flesh blinded what was left of clusters of sputtering nerves. Ipi had shot her husband? No, that couldn't be correct. Purple had learned everything he could about Sen's life and personality in perpetration to become her ideal mate; he knew her shampoo, her favorite foods, her underwear size, and went through training on how to raise their children should they eventually have any in the future. There was never any mention or record of her having a significant other in the past and Lire had always portrayed her as the bachelorette of the century that everyone wanted to have striding at their coattails. Injection. She had mentioned the injections. They had injected her with the blood of someone and turned her into…something. Why? Who? When? How had they modified her? Did this have something to do with Red's claims of DNA harvesting and the bloodletting Purple had been forced to woozily sit through at the greedy hands of his Tallest's private medical team? He could remember Del practically salivating as every last vial of saccharine blood pumped from his veins as he ran his palms over the warmed glass and held them up at the light.

_Ah, yes, you're so pure, Nemi. So, so pure._

He shook his head when the silky, smooth voice of Del echoed in his PAK memories and exchanged a lingering glance with Red, who had renewed to something cold and stagnant as if he didn't believe Sen's harrowing sob story in the slightest.

"Cut the bullshit and quit trying to get sympathy." Red sneered in disinterest, tired of being strung along by everyone around him and not able to break free from the constant fury prodding him like a hot poker to take action and end this. "I went through hell to keep you happy and fled when you kept siphoning my blood every week like a freak! You took everything I had from me and threw it away all because you and your monster of a mother wanted to play biggest, baddest Empire in our quadrent! I had a promising career in the military and now I can't even go back to my own planet without getting arrested for defecting!"

Sen blinked to the best of her ability and tried to hold herself together, hating every minute of the overpowering, dominating anger in Red's tone. "I wanted you to defect to save you from the awful future I knew you could avoid! I tried to push you away the whole time and I tried to protect you from my mother's hands because she was going to kill you when they found out your DNA wasn't pure!"

"What do you mean you pushed me away?! I remember you being adamant that you wanted me _because_ my DNA was pure!"

"Styx, she had you set up to be assassinated because your blood didn't work for our cause!"

"Irk, would all of you quit calling me that?! My name is Red and it always will be! Now quit being vague and tell me what you're keeping so I can blast a hole in the other side of your hideous face!"

"Are you even listening to what I'm trying to tell you?! I can't tell you anything else or they'll hurt me!"

That did it. Purple took a deep breath the slammed the knife to the concrete, throwing his head back and bellowing out his own annoyance when the conversation circled back. "Everyone shut up! Shut up!" He barked, balling his fingers into fists and shooting daggers at Red when he threatened to retort but decided wisely against it. "I'm always the one left out of the conversation and I'm sick and tired of it! Sen, you're going to tell us what the hell is going on right now, and Red, you're going to keep your big mouth shut and let her speak so we can get out of this room because it stinks! I'm not going to stand here and listen to you to go after each other like smeets so grow up already and get to the point!"

Silence.

Sen brought her hands together in her lap and swallowed, staring down at her two-toed feet and quivering a bit when Purple calmed himself and crossed in front of her to get a better look, kneeling and looking her in the eyes from within her gloomy hood. He snuck up and fought off his own overpowering, uncomfortable terror as he took her wiry hands in his and waited, squeezing slightly to provide a cozy sense of pressure and friendly intimacy Sen hadn't felt in cycles. She paused, opening her hanging jaw to speak before clamping it back shut, shying away and tugging her fingers back in one swift jerk to shove them under her armpits.

"You're supposed to love me. You're supposed to be the one I'm promised to and this is supposed to be your home. I tried to keep up my mother's front for as long as I could but I can't treat you like I have anymore because it's not fair for you." She tentatively moved back, trailing an anxious, jittery claw along Purple's cheekbone and moving away when he shuddered at the soft, all-too-familiar feeling. "Whatever horrors you've endured, whatever they forced you through, I didn't want you to have to feel that. I'm so sorry you were called to represent an Empire that would sell off its own citizens for the prospect of immoral scientific advancement, but I can't help you. I-I just can't. I've already said far too much and if they find out I've talked, they'll bury me alive and ensure no one in our galaxy ever hears from me again."

Purple took up her hands again, persevering despite his own panicky disposition at being held in the touch of someone other than his own fingers. "Sen, please," He began as softly as he could muster, watching Red shift feverishly out of the corner of his eye and Zim finally stand to join by his side, "I'm giving you a chance to speak up about everything they've done to you. Whoever _they_ are, we've all fallen victim to their motives and had something stolen from us. I spent two long cycles preparing for this alliance and I was tortured, deprived, abused, and touched in ways that will probably never let me trust another man in my life." He stopped himself short, glancing to where Red stood and hastily thrusting himself back into the conversation. "But, I'm putting all of my cards on the table and choosing to trust you for the sake of whatever is happening on the sidelines, but you have to trust me too. I shot you out of self-defense and fear for my own life and the lives of Red and his friend, but you have to believe that if I had known all of this was happening to you too, I would have gone out of my way to free you from everything they've done. I can't help you if you don't help me."

"Pur, this isn't a good idea." Red chimed in firmly, holding his ground and scooping up his knife when Sen shot him a tear streaked look from around the furred edge of her expensive designer coat. "She's manipulative and all she does is lie to get her way all the time. I was living with this woman for over a cycle before we were supposed to be married and she cheated, maneuvered, and sobbed her way through our whole relationship. I don't trust her and neither should you."

Sen grew flustered at his harsh statements, immediately panicking and picking up her feeble, choked sobs as her grip on Purple's wrist tightened. "N-No! Please, you have to understand what they've done to me! T-They ruined me and turned me into something I can never come back from! You have to trust me!"

"What did they do to you? Please, you have to tell me so we can find our people and end this once and for all but we can't do it without your help!" Purple pleaded, wincing at the dig of claws in his skin and trying to pull away but finding himself effectively stuck in Sen's crushingly potent, iron grip.

"Get off of him you snake!" Red lunged forward and grabbed at Sen's wrist, prying her off and grabbing Purple around the waist when she shouted something in unintelligible Callnowian. "Trust _me_, Purple! Trust me because I know how this place operates and we can't stay here any longer! We have to get to Ipi and end this before they end us and kill you like she's leading us into right now! She never had a husband and her and her mother are closer than anyone I've ever seen. She's lying to you!"

Purple didn't know who to believe, watching Sen's forlorn, shattered visage as she begged him with her swollen lips and glittery, jet black eyes, white iris' pleading for him to see reason. She was so venerable and visibly sincere, and she had already given them valuable hints into what was happening with the blood and DNA collection, but they still didn't have enough to go on, the answer to what had happened to the mysterious disappearance of five thousand Irken souls hanging on the tip of his tongue like a shot of whiskey he could never take. Blood was being collected and DNA was being extracted for some nefarious, immoral scientific purpose. Sen had mentioned that she had been injected with the blood of, presumably, the Irkens that were held as slaves somewhere beneath the ice and turned into a monstrosity that couldn't feel pain and had a hard time dying. Why? Purple hadn't gotten that far, yet. Then there was Lire. He had crumbled to nothing more than a distraught, feverish jumble of panicked nerves and pungent, rotting scents that turned his blood to nothing more than dust. It was black and goopy, crusting on contact as it flooded away from his perforated spooch, much like Sen's blood did when it spilled to the operating table. Think, Purple, think. What was the link?! They were both obviously destroyed on a molecular level but the injection of Irken blood shouldn't change someone to such a gory extent and leave them without the capacity of pain.

Think!

And then there was Red.

He turned back, noticing his warm, enshrouding hands on his waist and finding a bizarre sense of serenity in his touch despite his annoying need to contest everything he said and scream when he talked. He was loud and obnoxious, with no idea what life meant or how to appreciate the sanctity of it. He'd lost everything he owned along with Purple, and had gone through the same malicious agony and emotional imprisonment at the hands of Sen and Del before enduring the pain of a thousand plasma torches to chemically enhance his eyes and become the man he wanted to be. He was just as volatile and foreign as Sen was in Purple's mind, a ticking time bomb of rage and displeasure but…no. No, he was dedicated. Everything Red had done since their meeting had been for the furtherment of his risky mission and the peace of thousands with a need to prove to himself deep down that he wasn't a total failure or the product of Del's displacement of his very lifeforce to the stars. He was here, and he hadn't abandoned Purple in the snow like he could have hours before. No, Red stuck by his side and put up with every hot word he'd slapped him across the face with, soaking them up and realizing his abuse formed, strict boundaries and respecting them like a true…Huh.

A true…friend?

Purple moved his free hand down to Red's and scratched at the grip of his knife with a tentative nail, searching his face for any morsel of sanity and coming up with the kindest, most protective air he'd ever been allowed.

Red. A name synonymous with safety.

Ok.

Purple gave his friend a tiny, rushed wink before turning back to Sen, hoping he understood his motives as he grinned warmly back and strode to where her long, lanky legs dangled from the edge of the operating table. "I trust you, but you have to tell me what you know so we can help you overcome your mother's advances. I'm just going to ask a few questions." He slung his hands casually behind his back and motioned for Red to move to the right as their target was distracted.

Red narrowed his eyes with a perplexed blink, watching the shudder in his friend's hands and letting the sweltering feeling of supposed betrayal fall away when Purple's plan finally gelled in his dense mind and clicked into place. Slick. He stretched and yawned, pretending to sheathe his knife before striding forward and leaning against the edge of the table with the thin, sharpened blade hidden at his thigh to wait for the right moment to strike. Purple had a knack for leadership that was almost scary to witness, the effortlessness of his lies and coy fibs concealed behind a beautiful, perfectly white smile and two innocently glowing orbs of pure lavender fire submerging him in a feeling of deep, utter infatuation when the sting of rejection finally subsided to be replaced with admiration. Red felt his pulse quicken under his heavy respirator, the thrill of the hunt and the idea of having a partner in crime again digging into every layer of thick skin shrouding his body to allow six long, flawless fingers to grip and contort his willing spooch to their will. He was as formidable in word as he was in battle, even if he had lost most of his muscle tone, and used his perceived softness and effeminate beauty to his advantage despite the lack of confidence he still held from his time without needed independence or respect. Every movement oozed a sense of poised, graceful domination as he cornered the atmosphere and clawed at its throat with more political sense than Red had ever thought was possible, cluing him in to the sheer magnitude of force Purple could batter his enemies with should he reach his peak once more. His wit and sharp tongue slid right against Sen's sensitive, manipulative resolve and unknown intentions, tasting them and never once shying away when he was met with the burning sensation of salt and festering pus. He had hooked, charmed, danced, and made love to her all with a single glance and Red had to bite down hard on his tongue to keep himself from grinning back at the shimmering display of near omnipotent might urging him on towards what he wanted to feel in his own adrenaline spiked grasp. He took a deep inhale and kept himself inconspicuous as Purple worked his cosmic magic, waiting for a chance to strike and completely immobilize Sen from following them along through the mansion. He needed to sever the tendons in her heels and, regardless of if she could feel physical pain or not, she would have no access to chase them down as she bled out.

Be patient.

_He trusts you, so you need to trust him._

Purple could feel the sweat pool on his dehydrated brow and hoped Sen couldn't smell his terror when her gentle, wavering hair curled and writhed to the side of his cheek, a mauled smile stretching on what was left of her once pristine face before fading completely to something deep and erroneous.

"Oh, darling, I can't tell you any more than what I've already said." She muttered under her warm breath, her onyx sheened hair continuing to coil and smooth against his jawline. "You've been better to me than so many others out there have since my birth, but…" She paused, trailing off and hooking him under the chin to draw him up.

"Y-Yes?" Purple squeaked back, following her cloudy, dreamlike advances as if he had no choice, glancing to Red to get ready when he felt Sen's fingers drag further down his throat and stop to feel his erratic pulse as he hissed. "Now."

"Now? Now, what, love?" Sen giggled, wiping her tears away from her cheeks and flicking them from her fingertips as she sighed. "I've already stalled enough for the guards to arrive, so good luck being shipped back to your planet and tried for treason!"

"Red, now, do it n-!" Purple choked on his words when Sen flew from the table without warning and wrapped her hands around his thin throat, pinning him back and blinding him in a tangle of irate, whipping fronds and guttural snarls as he vehemently thrashed.

Red yelped and flew forward, bringing his knife down as Zim sprung to action and collided hard with Sen's side to send her reeling towards the metal frame of the operating table, her spine cracking with a loud pop before she was on Purple again with just as much anger and intensity as she'd had. The door slammed in and Red turned just in time to cry out and duck when an Irken guard fired a searing, white-hot plasma bolt through the heavy atmosphere, missing him by a few inches and hitting a bottle of peroxide. The plastic immediately combusted and popped, sending burning liquid cascading down over the concrete and stinging at Purple's back as Sen kept on, pitting globs of nauseating blood into his face as she wrung him violently and slammed him back to knock whatever air remained in his fragile lungs free.

Irken?!

Why were there Irken guards here?!

"Zim, the guards!" Red barked, bringing his knife down in Sen's back and twisting before cursing under his breath when she didn't so much as flinch. No, no, he couldn't let her take him away! Not now, not ever! "What's with all of you thinking you own us?!" He screeched, tackling her around the waist and landing blow after bone-crushing blow to her already obliterated eye socket before quickly hatching an idea as Purple hacked and wheezed behind him. "You don't touch him! Don't you ever touch him!"

Zim tore past and threw out his PAK legs as two more Irken guards popped into the room and opened fire, careful not to hit Sen and aiming directly at his stomach to graze at the canvas of his uniform before he was on them like a rabid animal birthed solely from dripping teeth and shredding claws. He caught sight of Red's knife and reached out to skid it back across the floor when he yelled something incoherent, crying out in shock as one of the guards flipped him onto his back and struggled with his PAK legs, stomping hard against his ribcage before taking aim between his eyes. Red panicked and frantically tried to find a way to stop the bloodshed, reaching for a nearby scalpel Sen had knocked free from the cluttered counter during her overdone acting before blindly tossing it and internally praising himself when it collided with Zim's immediate attacker and lodged in his shoulder, drawing an vacillating scream of agony from his mouth and giving his tiny comrade the chance to overpower them once more.

"My Tallers, we have to move!" Zim yelled over the commotion and Sen's agitated, wholly infuriated cries of frustration as she tried to crawl her blindly to her coat to call for help. "If we stay here, they'll find us!"

"Yeah, I know but I'm a little busy at the moment! Pur, the knife!" Red struggled to keep Sen pinned as he scrambled to get his friend's attention as he clutched at his throat and rolled onto his side to escape the encroaching fire. Dammit! Was he going to have to do this the hard way?! "Sen, I'm giving you one chance to tell me where my people are or I'll blind you! Don't test me!"

"You spineless insect, you don't have the fight in you to take me down! I feel nothing but a pinprick of pressure so go ahead and blind me!" Sen hissed brutally, trying to knee Red in the back but failing under his bruising strength on the side of her face. "I-I'm not telling you anything!"

"Is it true?! Are you injecting others with Irken blood?! Why?! How does that turn you into whatever you've become?!" He spat back, digging into her cheek and moving to slide her closer to the fire. "Tell me now or I'll make sure you never look at your stupid face in the mirror again!"

Sen merely chuckled, shaking her head under Red's profoundly fierce constraint and wiggling an arm free to clock him in the side. He coughed to the side, feeling his spooch instantly bruise as his past fiancé lunged for his boot knife and missed as Purple came to and grabbed it first, beating her back and aiming for her face to slice long, thin, lacerations over her remaining eyes. She screeched, not out of pain but out of horrified shock as her own crusty blood invaded her blackening vision, her voice going up an octave as Purple turned and swiftly swept her off her feet and went for the sensitive backs of her heels, severing her Achilles tendons as soon as she thudded hard to the floor before turning and taking on one of the three remaining guards to pry them from where they had engaged in hand to hand combat with tiny Zim and his flailing mechanical extensions.

"Sir, they can feel pain! They haven't been changed!" Zim noticed, struggling to keep a hot plasma pistol from being pressed into the skin of his cheek. "Their blood is still pink!"

Breathe and remember your training.

One. Under the ribcage, aim for the lower spooch. Purple followed his own hectic advice as Red fell in next to him and snatched him out of the way as another deafening plasma shot set their buzzing antennae to a muffled ring. Red pinned the guard down as Zim powered through with his own lasers, hitting him square in the face and melting his skin to something charred and ruined beyond recognition as bright pink blood pooled and collected at their boots. Purple kept on, dancing in tandem with Red who kept watch over his left flank and Zim snarling and screeching wildly at his right. Two. Take out major arteries. Purple slid past as Red landed a firm punch to the eye of the second guard, elegantly slipping between them when his erratic pulse thumped through his rapidly pounding veins to land a clean cut across his delicate throat and watch in bewildered terror as he instantly fell to his knees and sputtered on his own life force bubbling over his tongue to drown him. Tunnel vision set in and he dropped the knife when his body dissociated from the battle and the swirling scents, losing his winning streak in favor of the appalling terror he'd managed to keep at bay until the feeling of hot sticky blood slipped through his hands, tuning him out to everything but the tips of his feet as Red begged and pleaded for him to come too when Zim was stabbed through the arm by the harsh tip of a rogue PAK leg sharpened to perfection. He tried to shake the fringes of battle from his mind, blearily glancing up and feeling his own mechanical hardware pump him with enough high-inducing norepinephrine to rocket him back into the speed of things just as Red spun him around and shook him violently by the shoulders. He gave up, reaching for the knife himself and going after their attacker when he turned on the two, his intensely deep need to protect overtaking his need to bring Purple back online as his PAK went through an automatic reboot, pinning the surprised officer to the ground and laying into him as he shrieked and cried in searing agony for the pain to end. Zim finally pushed himself up and took pity on his yowls, hitting him with another plasma bolt and splattering his flesh across the floor into the hallway outside to stain the far wall with a fine mist of blow back.

"Follow me, Zim knows the way!" The tiny soldier demanded, tearing off and raking through the growing resistance with four powerful lasers trained on anything that moved.

With that, Red took his shaken up friend by the hand and yanked him on as Zim took off into the shady, surprisingly clean corridor as Callnowian and Irken scientists alike flittered in and out of rooms out of terror at the sickening amount of blood dripping from the hands of the enemy that had invaded their precious, carefully shrouded stronghold. They had to get upstairs before…

Shit.

A blaring alarm sounded overhead when Sen presumably made it to her communicator, crawling her way across the floor and digging her claws into the metal frame of the doorway as Purple glanced back and felt his spooch drop.

"Kill them! Kill them before they make it to mother!"

* * *

Sen is a ruthless, coldhearted bitch. Not going to lie. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and thanks for all of your wonderful support! Thank you to our new guest reviewers that show up and I'm glad you guys have found my fic littered amongst thousands! I love you all!

**Next Update: Wednesday, February 26, 2020 at 10:00 PM CDT (UTC -5)! Hope to see you then!**


	13. Deceased

Welcome back to Fire in the Snow! I hope that you guys enjoy this chapter and I am really excited for this one because it's going to be a big reveal session! Have fun and I love you all!

MY BETA READER IS ON VACATION! THIS CHAPTER IS NOT BETAED AS OF 2/26/2020 AND WILL BE UPDATED ON 2/27/2020 TO FIX ANY REDUNDANCY OR SPELLING MISTAKES! THANKS!

**Chapter rated M for graphic depictions of blood/violence/gore, major character death, mentions of past abuse, perilous themes, suggestive themes, brief heavy language, and general adult content.**

* * *

ONE CYCLE IN THE RECENT PAST

"Ow, shit!"

Red dropped his soldering iron and brought the charred tips of his sensitive fingers to his mouth when he felt the sting and burn of melted flesh overtake his senses. Damn. Not again. He reached up with a discouraged pout and tugged his safety goggles free, tossing them angrily to his mattress and flinching when they hit the harsh titanium of the wall and cracked cleanly along the cheap lens. He shook his head and flattened his antennae when he heard sudden, lethargic movement down past the hatch, listening intently for a few seconds more as someone rummaged lazily through their food supply then retreated into the darkness to have a quick midnight snack before snoozing once more. As soon as their door swung closed with a soft click, Red groaned, slinging his chin into his palms and gripping at his bone structure when his already unbearable frustration went on the fritz and boiled up into his scarred chest to remind him that he was nothing more than an appalling failure. He was the laughing stock of the Universe in his mind, a dunce unable to figure out basic chemistry and wiring to finally put together everything he needed to relieve the rest of his team.

He couldn't have them around anymore…this mission was getting far too dangerous.

They all knew in the back of their razed, weary minds that they were on the road to nowhere, preparing for an elongated death sentence that would surely come should they pursue their fated attacks on the Callnowian Empire before turning on their own regime to undermine everything that Del had done. For the past several months, Red had inconspicuously watched every flutter of Skoodge's hands as he meticulously tightened nuts and bolts on the ship, had eyed Tak's navigation skills from over their breakfast table as she lazed them through the cosmos, and had stolen a few of Zim's horrendously scrawled notes on instructional bomb making to figure out the dubiously complex venture for himself. It wasn't that he didn't need or want them all around; in fact, he cherished their presence as a collective and found solace in the laughter they shared over every transmission blunder their idiotic Tallest gave to the public over their personal devices and relished in the adrenaline he felt when he caught sight of the thrilled glimmer in Tak's gorgeous eyes as they were engaging in a risky heist together. He'd pilfered so much in the past cycles, stocking up on everything he may need for the shift away from his currently four person team; food, caloric drinks, raw sugar for emergency rations, bits of metal, dormant plasma cores for the ship, jugged bathing bromine, clothing, identity cards, pens, stationary, and the like. It was getting difficult to hoard everything in his tiny twenty by twenty, cramped quarters at the top of the ship, but he had somehow managed to keep most of his venture a hushed secret from the others while they celebrated and drank below. Tak merely thought that he was giving in to his innate sense of commonplace greed, while Skoodge and Zim were so caught up in their own strange prizes and little victories that they hadn't noticed the sheer weight increase of the ship over the past few months. He needed to teach himself everything he could possibly know about how to survive and upkeep his surroundings by himself…and he needed to get rid of his team.

There was no easy way to do this. Red had attempted the gut-wrenching, horrific conversation a few times in the past as he lay stagnant and cold next to his then girlfriend while she wrapped a protective arm over his bare chest and whispered sweet nothings against his antennae, thinking she was bringing him a sense of balmy comfort when she was only hammering the final rusted nail in her own coffin. She didn't understand, or maybe she did on some level and chose to hear what she wanted, tuning him out completely with light kisses smeared against his cheeks and careful fingers tracing his jawline into the night before he would give up the venture altogether and roll onto his side to stare at the far wall until she fell gently asleep and allowed him to leave. The mornings were always the same. Tak would get up and wonder where he had escaped to only to find him scrawling feverishly in one of his many primitive notebooks to tick off every failed attempt and sink further and further into the bottomless, yawning pit of despair that was beginning to consume him. Then, much to his hollow, heartbreaking displeasure, Red had tried driving her away with a sudden fictitious personality shift and his abrupt 'need' to fight about any and everything he could find. At first, Tak thought it was all a ridiculous joke, shaking her head in amusement when he would snatch candy away or complain that she had stolen the wrong kind of cereal and that he refused to eat something so disgusting. She put up with it a lot longer than Red had been expecting, chipping away at his morality and cracking him at a soulful level when she would glare back and try to make him see reason he already knew was there but could never acknowledge for the agonizing terror that she would stay.

In hindsight, he should have abandoned them all on a populated moon somewhere and been done with it. But, there was no going back from that now, was there?

Their relationship deteriorated to nothing more than unfeeling, tension-laden sex and impersonal stares across the cockpit on the rare times he came by to wordlessly toss snacks in her direction, wanting to cry when she would pull away and silently shudder across his worn mattress to relieve herself from the familiarly distant touch she had once craved like saccharine honey now festering within her like an oozing gash of pus and muck making her sick to her stomach. He could see it. The monumental effort it took her to take what he still felt cynically obligated to give surviving through her undying need to make things work for them and mend the passionate, fiery exchange they had once shared. She would never know that all of the torment and strife she had been unwittingly tossed into like a ragdoll was an intensive, compassionate effort to save her life and her soul from the catastrophic destruction Red was hurtling towards in his lonesome.

And…there was something else.

_Something_. Something he didn't understand.

Tak was beautiful. She was soft yet rugged at the same time with an ability to think and rationalize deadly situations beyond anyone that Red had ever met in his days. He loved having her around and didn't want to picture his existence without her since they'd met in the medical dungeons of Ipi's home, if he was honest with himself, and enjoyed seeing her grow and change as an individual into the powerhouse of a woman she had become. But…their first time was a fluke. He couldn't deny that he found her advances appealing and infinitely comforting in the frigid arctic winds of the Callnowian countryside and the exhaustion from their reconnaissance trek had set his mind into a swimmy, woozy lack of inhibitions and rationality. He wanted it. She wanted it. However, come dawn, he no longer felt the burning desire to hold her or feel her close to him.

It was a mistake and that something crept back into the woven fibers of his concealed personality to tug and hitch him apart like a thin strip of fabric.

Red had known since his admittance into the Academy that his preferences were a bit more than atypical in their society. He felt an urge for softness and kindhearted compassion, for vibrant talks about life and the swelling staccato of dance as he waltzed along and held someone close, and felt the yearn to settle down and find someone who cherished every piece of his broken personality and attempted to glue each jagged fragment together to finally come to a solidified whole.

What he didn't feel the urge for was a woman.

It wasn't wrong for him to love a man. Irk had become a wildly open and much more progressive society that allowed for all forms of love and companionship as long as a partner was approved by the Control Brains and heads of state before a relationship was officialized, but there was something within Red that told him to keep his hidden interest a secret. He'd watched others in the Academy, stared at their peaceable sleeping faces at night as they bunked in the gloom and grew fascinated with the amazing dips and subtle sharpness to the male physique he itched to run his hands over. He'd kissed a few of his classmates in the showers, usually on obnoxious dares from his snide friends to get under their skin and humiliate them, but couldn't deny the feeling he got when he approached his flippant, fleeting crushes and connected with them in such a profoundly intimate manner, even if they wanted to punch his lights out when it was all said and done. It ate at him…oh how it ate at him. Tak had known of his interests and experimentation, but had expressed a belief on more than one occasion that it was probably just harmless fun and, once he had been with a woman other than the nauseating forced relationship he had been given with Sen, he would come to realize the fullest potential he had as a man and give up his pointless fantasies.

No. Red was gay. He knew he was but he kept quiet and focused on the mission. He merely blamed their relationship on one too many shots of hot, spiced whiskey to keep warm and a need for companionship to push away the numbing, depressive ache caught in the pit of his stomach. He loved Tak as a friend…nothing more.

Irk, he was overthinking again, wasn't he?

He peeled his hands away from his jawline with a heavy sigh, staring blankly down at the, what, fourteenth failed attempt at constructing a viable explosive? If he could master Zim's area of expertise, he would finally be ready to abandon them somewhere where they would be safe and could live without the prospect of losing everything they held so dear to their spooches. He decided to try again, dimming the powerful radiance shimmering from his lamp before taking up the soldering iron and flicking it on as it leaked a tiny stream of molten metal and splashed perilously to his table to leave deep, pitted streaks. No. He could do this.

He could do this.

* * *

THE HARROWING PRESENT; IPI'S MANSION; CALLNOWIA

He could do this!

H-He could do this!

Red kept a tight hold on Purple's shellshocked form as they darted and careened past terrified, wholly puzzled science drones of all ages and races, slipping and sliding around exam tables loaded with sharp tools and throbbing organ specimens to keep up with the dominating path Zim was recklessly paving. He tore over equipment and grabbed for lone hydrogen tanks, tossing them over their collective shoulders and firing with heated PAK lasers back at the volatile, swirling gas until it ignited in an explosive display of grisly, charred flesh and excoriating, blood-curdling screams of pure agony that drew menacing cackles from his deranged smile. Red felt his shallow breathing race a mile a minute as he collided with a Callnowian phlebotomist, spilling vials of gooey, precious blood to the floor as he skidded past and tried with all his might to keep himself somewhat mentally sound for the sake of the unraveling novice struggling to keep up behind him. Every heavily scarred muscle in his overworked body burned and strained with every sharp corner rounded and sterile tray avoided as Purple faltered and raked his claws along the opulent wallpaper in an effort to slow them down. No, they couldn't afford to stop now! Red thought fast, spinning dexterously on his heel and snatching him around the waist as he panted and labored against the lack of muscle tone he'd been so viciously gifted with after cycles of torrent abuse, throwing out his PAK legs as Zim covered them from the front and tore through swarms of violently screeching guards and heavy, blistering canon fire. Red ducked down and heaved, slinging Purple up over his shoulder before he could protest and taking off on his stout mechanical extensions after the tiny demon setting every noxious chemical he could find alight to paint his own gorgeous, personal inferno of hell raging around them like a firestorm.

"W-What are you doing?! I can take care of myself!" Purple demanded over the boom of another rifle burst colliding with the wall to their left and sending shards of gold dust and titanium beating back to sting at their skin. He covered his face and coughed, yelping when his protector dipped suddenly to avoid a slew of blinding green ammunition aimed at his PAK. "You're only slowing yourself down, Red!"

"No, _you_ were slowing us down when you couldn't keep up, idiot!" Red growled hectically back, fumbling to a stop as Zim threw open a rusted service door and barked something inaudible over the commotion. "Would you just shut up already and let me do my job?!"

"Pardon me, Mr. High and Mighty! Sorry I keep getting in your way and causing so much trouble for your stupid face and your stupid mission!" Purple slung his arms around Red's neck for leverage as he vaulted through the hatch and slammed it shut, quickly forgetting his petty fight as a group of Callnowian guards slammed into the metal and attempted to use their key cards to unlock it. "R-Red! Red, the door, the door! We need to-"

"Let Zim handle this." Zim mumbled from below, waltzing forward on cocky feet as he sifted through his PAK for anything he could use to jam the hinges, finding nothing and moving to weld the steel to the frame for a temporary fix. "Finally, some peace and quiet at last. Now, let's go, and keep your irritating voices down for once."

Red took the lead, retracting his mechanical extensions and gingerly setting Purple to the chilly ground as they ascended the grubby back service entrance. Zim had passed off his pistol but kept his senses sharp and alert, quivering antennae rocketing into every moist drip and clank of metallic friction echoing through the hopefully empty stairwell. The sounds of the guard could be heard pounding ruthlessly at the door from below as they scrambled frantically to find an Irken capable of melting Zim's rugged, unpracticed handiwork, screeching into wavering headsets for backup that would hopefully come from a different direction than up. Purple followed close at Red's heels, intermittently digging his claws into the canvas of his belt when every tiny pinprick of a faint sound would catch him off guard and toss him back into the terrified mindset of sudden death and organ squeezing torment they all faced for performing something so horrendously perilous. The danger and dread hanging in the air was palpable and stung at raw cheeks like buzzing electrical currents desperate for a way to ground themselves, setting pulses to tempos beyond the healthy norm and mollifying train wrecked minds to nothing more than the instinctual need to survive and make it back out into the light of day. They had to get out of here. They had to make it to the twentieth floor and strangle the truth out of Ipi before Sen was somehow able to find her way back on her sliced feet to come after them. Gross. That was the last thing Red wanted to see, his ex-fiance's severed tendons dangling against the floor as her obliterated face snarled and shuddered violently after them all through the horrific shadows to bring forth the deepest, most disturbing nightmare imaginable. They'd turned to zombified versions of their former selves, unable to feel pain or sickness and driven on by the very greed that probably prompted them to do whatever they had immorally concocted and shot into their unfortunate flesh in the first place. But now wasn't the time for scientific exploration or pondering; now was the time for action.

Zim raised a swift hand from behind, bringing it to his lips and halting the group in their hushed tracks as they watched with bated breath when he narrowed his eyes and crept up a few metallic stairs. He paused, listening intently and motioning for Red to shroud Purple when he swore he heard some kind of movement creeping along through the busted out fluorescent lighting. Wait what was-

Bang.

Red froze, antennae ringing before he turned away with a startled, unbelieving shout of terror as something warm and wet bounced and sprayed against his clammy skin, painting him with the agonizing suffering he knew he would draw a close to Lavender Fire someday. Brilliant pinks and churning magentas dripped down his trembling front as he took a deep shuddering breath and caught sight of his now completely headless comrade spilling over the edge of the stairwell and oozing with eddying color and amorphous shapes he could no longer make out as a cohesive whole. Heat. Nausea. Disoriented dissociation. Plasma fire from above. The door caving in below. They were trapped here, destined to die alone and cold as Red collapsed hard to his knees and immediately cried out when his hands landed in the puddle of indistinct life that had been pumping luminously through his friend's veins just moments before he was snuffed out and carried away like peaceful steam. Zim…Zim was dead? First beautiful, strong Tak had been sliced open by the unfeeling canon blast of Sen's emotionless fleet. Intelligent, happy-go-lucky Skoodge had been riddled with holes and burned to death as he choked on enough smoke to pop his delicate lungs. And now….n-now…? No. He couldn't be dead, he just couldn't be gone! Red didn't know where to look, staring down at the visceral, gut-wrenching carnage heaped over the edge of their high perch and leaking like a gooey, lazy waterfall of tissues and squirming platelets to the floor below as heavy boots ascended to their location. Purple landed at his side, frantically spewing something….s-something Red could no longer understand when he felt what little light remained in his dulled vision collapse and fade to nothing more than the phantom of what once was.

The mission was over.

They'd lost.

Red had lost his home. He'd lost his family. He'd lost any ability he had to return to the planet he loved more than anything in this callous, dammed Universe. His people had pinned him as a traitor and a defector to the state, and the only man he had left in this world was someone who had harshly rejected him hours before because they were still miles apart.

"Look at me!"

Red stared down at his white, insipid knuckles as he unintentionally ignored the panicked voice twirling around his quivering stalk and brought a trembling, unsteady hand to his cheeks to try and mop away the blowback of misty blood that had clouded his already wavering, distorted vision before Purple grabbed him ruthlessly by the shoulders and reared back. An authoritative, open-handed smack stung vehemently across his face followed by a smooth palm brushing away the pain as his eyes flew wide and his autopilot was slammed off. Iron clung to the atmosphere as the stench of fresh blood took over his senses and caused him to heave a ferocious cough, restarting his system completely as his bewildered crimson gaze locked onto the viciously unwavering, indomitable flash of crazed amethyst singeing his soul and drawing him in towards everything he never realized he would need.

"Pur…Purple what-"

"Get up and give me your gun! It's just you and me now, and I'm a better shot!"

Purple didn't wait for Red's disconcerted, stuttering response, reaching down to where his pistol had clamored to the grating beneath their feet before flipping the safety and squinting expertly down the sight, firing a single, thunderous streak just as an Irken guard rounded the level above and went to shout something back to his squad. He planted his feet firmly on the step and grabbed for his friend's shoulder to forcibly tug him up to his feet, maneuvering them around the heartrendingly devastated body of tiny Zim paling and turning to nothing more than a half-formed, stiffened cadaver with every passing second. Red finally got his head back in the game as he fought off his pallidly petrified tears in favor of intimidation when a second squadron rounded the curve of the stairwell from below, screeching in foreign languages that were quickly translated to accented Irken when Purple trained his pistol to the offensive cornering them from above.

"Stop and throw down your weapon! We have orders not to shoot!"

"Not to shoot?! You killed one of my teammates and you wanna come in here and talk to me about peace?!" Purple's tone was alarmingly hot and guttural, a twinge of nervousness and horrified anxiety drowned out by his need to stand his ground like a caged animal. "Back off or I'll do exactly what you did to my friend!"

A stocky spokesman hustled his way to the front, shoving aside rigid guards and huffing when they glared back at him with an overwhelming intensity that set them all on the dangerous edge of spilling. "You're here to see Prime Minister Ipi, are you not?" He called back, keeping his own plasma pistol aimed directly between Purple's eyes as Red continued to collect himself. "She requested we take out the dangerous one! The explosive's expert you decided to drag in here and proceeded to let overpower our medical team!"

"Your medical team?! You mean the assault on our own people and the bloodletting these monsters have been putting us through for some project?! Tell me what's going on right now or I swear to Irk I'll use my artistic talent to paint the walls with your brains!" Purple was beginning to lose his cool, his fear rising like yeast through every crevice in his body as he tried to remember what little his awful captors had taught him about being a leader. Mediation was key if they were going to get out of this alive. "How about this? We both lower our weapons and you call a truce with your men. I'll pass you my gun and come with you to negotiate my terms with your Prime Minister."

The officer blinked his vast, bug-like gaze and shook his head before baring his teeth in distrust, obviously clueless to the sheer extent of the violence that had been thrust against their own people by the blatant look of unease soiling his expression. "I don't believe you! The damage you've caused already is in the millions and I'm not about to take any more chances with you two! You're coming with us right now and I'm not taking no for an answer!"

Irk, did this guy even listen to what he just said? Purple weighted his rapidly spiraling options, glancing over his shoulder to where Red had tentatively thrown his fists before his face to prepare for hand to hand engagement, bracing himself and tensing for the first of many offensives he was sure would come and litter his body with more unneeded, seemingly ugly, scars. If they fought, they would surely be overpowered and brought to death. But, if they gave in, even for a bit, they had a minute inkling of a chance to make it up to Ipi and get her alone. Maybe…just maybe they could salvage this mission yet. He locked eyes with his friend, nodding him on before throwing his arms wide and flinching as the swarm held their breath in tandem before relaxing in a stunned silence as he dropped his pistol over the edge of the stairwell, listening to it hit every mottled rung on the way down and finally bounce to the metal floor below.

"There. I pose no immediate threat to you or your team and I'm practically defenseless. You'll be able to see if my PAK legs are ready to burst, but I promise on my life and the sanctity of our planet that I'll keep them tucked away as you lead us on." Purple kept his demands short and resolute, scanning his opponents face and noting every gleam of turbulent unrest flashing behind his steely gaze as he thought. "Now that we're on the same page, why don't you take me and my friend here up to have a mature, rational talk with the Prime Minister so we can sort out this whole misunderstanding, hm?"

Red was stupefied by the poise and overbearing, resounding force pouring forth from his teammate as the officer wavered in his boots and whispered a few hushed mummers into his headset, noting the undeniable secretion of commanding pheromones even he was confused about. Soon enough, one by one, each and every sizzling barrel was pulled away from the unbending authority pounding through the proverbial brick wall of the moment and turning it to dust, nodding Purple forward as he reached down and took Red by the wrist to drag him on behind his continued display of fictitious prowess. He could feel his fingers trembling dangerously around his joint, hitching his claws into every vein and muscle he could feel and using Red's body as an anchor in the madness they were willingly thrusting themselves into as they gingerly left behind the last remaining memory of Zim's physical life and followed closely behind the menace that would lead them towards their uncertain, diabolical fatalities.

Hopefully they would finally make it out with answers…if they could formulate a plan.

* * *

Red was like a space heater under his touch, forcing Purple's chilly fingers to sweat as he meandered up and around the final level and was ushered through a brightly lit sunroom. They had gone all the way to the top, blasts of temperature-controlled warmth flooding through the hatch and smacking him square in the face as he squinted against the dryness he was met with. He tugged Red along, keeping him close for comfort and analyzing everything he could through his boiling dread for what was potentially to come. Plants of all sizes and genus hung from hand painted planters and soaked up the pale rays of the natural sun spanning the city of Bornau below, lighting up the long, narrow room and causing it to flourish with the illusion that they had just stumbled upon an ethereal, forgotten forest. A gargantuan living wall of spongy moss and fluttering vines crept along to their left, and fragrant, mouth-watering herbs spanned the length of the almost corridor like section to their right, peeking up from tiny geometric planters and giving off the richest of scents. Red broke free, tugging lightly away and brushing shoulders with Purple as the rest of their brutish escort moved off and locked the reinforced hatch behind them, leaving them like flies in a den of spiders to be devoured and sucked of their sweet, life-giving nutrients. Then there was the silence.

Harrowing, deafening silence.

"What is this place?" Purple ventured a bit of courage, taking a step forward and glancing down when his one bare foot made contact with a carpet of living grass craning up to kiss at his skin and almost nullify the stinging wounds that had razed through his delicate form. "If we weren't in life threatening danger, I would say this is pretty neat."

"I dunno, I never made it up this far when I was living here. I heard a rumor that Ipi was into horticulture because the plants were dying off under the snow but I had no idea that this existed." He responded apprehensively, swallowing thickly when the hatch behind them latched and immediately beginning to formulate a plan of escape before they were joined with unexpected company.

Purple didn't feel right, a deep throb of unsettling disquiet ripping through him like he was nothing more than tissue paper as he continued on and caught sight of two tailored suits pressed to perfection and laid out on a single table. They'd been color coordinated, one with a bright violet bowtie and the other with a stoic ruby tie and amethyst clip to suggest that under all that red there had once been something else. How passive aggressive was that? Purple reached out, brushing a single, shaky finger over the gorgeously expensive fabric and pulling free the jacket, admiring the tailoring and feeling a pang of alarm hit him when he noticed that his birth name had been stitched under the collar in finely embroidered, lavender thread to contrast deliciously with the stark black of the lapel. These had been made a while ago and every stitch had already settled into its final resting place amidst the silk lining, setting Purple's mouth to water with the idea of stepping into something silky smooth and no longer tattered. Red finally worked up enough gumption to follow, examining his own set and clicking the buckle on his belt as he hatched an idea and worked it off, tossing it to the side and not caring when it landed in an exotic shrub. He began to work off his respirator and undershirt, using whatever clean edge he could find to wipe Zim's nauseating blood from his skin as he tried to drown the sensation of hopeless despair that came with every passing second without his family by his side. No…he couldn't let them down now. Not after everything they had done and every place they had been through. This was their moment, and whatever happened here would be their legacy.

"You're not seriously going to put that on, are you? What if Ipi has put some kind of tracking in this stuff?" Purple hissed, flustering when he felt the back of his neck flush on impulse as Red finally stripped himself free of his underclothes and set to work on his pants. He turned away and glared at the living wall of magenta moss instead, rolling his eyes at the telltale rustle of fabric hitting the floor and knowing deep in his spooch that Red was probably naked.

"Nah, don't worry. I just looked them through with my ocular implants and I don't see anything out of place. It's all fabric, pretty nice fabric at that, and I was thinking we could use this as a fake status symbol to blend into the crowds and get into places after we mess with Ipi. Or we can sell it and hightail it outta this place in a nice rental ship to go after Del. Either way, this could be useful." He explained hastily from behind, unfolding the crimson undershirt someone had pleated and pressed for him. "I think we would be stupid not to take her up on her offer, don't you think?"

Red's faulty reasoning only further infuriated Purple's already enflamed nerves, making him feel unbearably awkward as he tried to figure out what to do with his hands. Red, the arrogant, obnoxious, all-talk-no-bite, fake General who turned out to be something so much worse was standing naked behind him. Naked. Irk, shut up! Shut up, shut up, _shut up_! The word bounced and reverberated through Purple's overflowing skull like a destructive jackhammer, breaking up every inhibition in his conditioned thoughts like ancient, brittle concrete and leaving behind an distinctive wonder to…Dammit! They were in the middle of a warzone and they'd just lost three others and this is where his mind chose to go?! Maybe it was the adrenaline. Maybe he could blame it on the forced pheromones he'd urged his sputtering PAK to secrete to paint himself as nothing more than a brutal commander in the presence of those who were about to main him. Maybe. Then, he felt it. An itch. An itch unlike any other forcing the world to dull to a slow, vacillating tangle of disastrously stunning colors intensifying in hue and only amplified by the desert-like heat flushing his system of whatever toxins had been lingering just under his skin. He began to sweat under the pressure of something he didn't quite understand, his own body releasing the stagnant scent of Red's oil-based cologne clinging to his tattered clothing and hugging his body gently like the embrace of, dare he say it? A…mm…a lover? Ew. _Gross_. Never in a thousand cycles would he accept someone so risky and annoying into his life as anything more than a friend at best. He sneered and brushed off the familiar scent he'd come to recognize from his days trapped as a secret prisoner aboard the Massive, catching a tiny whiff of vanilla here, a twinge of citrus there, but never being able to scent the complete picture with his inquisitive antennae until they had met in person; how he hadn't pieced together that it was the boastful, egotistical apparition of nihilistic perfection before, he would never know. Ah, perfection may be too strong a word. Flawlessly flawed? Yeah, that sounded better and gave Purple a bit more wiggle room with what he really meant, even if he was still unsure himself. Red had always been there, an elusive shadow lurking within the shadows of the very sickening, pathetic monsters that wrapped their crude claws around Purple's dainty throat and squeezed until he turned white with a perilous, pitiless lack of hydrogen. He was there when he was forcibly taken, when he was shoved in the dark for days on end, and…huh. Purple blinked, reaching up to smooth a guilty palm over his ruffled, temperate cheek as a peculiar notion hit him.

Maybe it wasn't Red's fault he didn't intervene.

It was insane, asinine, and something Purple had been sure he would never be able to completely let go of, letting it fester and boil within him since their meeting and knowing that Red had the strength and the capability to break every single one of Lire's disgustingly long fingers before they intruded within in him and broke down his psyche for good. But, he had let it happen. He had let it happen and watched from the gloom not because he was too concerned with his own political advancement to hear Purple's muffled cries behind the hands of all those who wanted to suffocate him, but because he knew Purple would surely be killed should he step in and attempt to stop the ordeal from happening. Lire had a duty to keep him alive and never go far enough to end his breath, but should he sniff out any inkling of a perception that Purple was involved with a traitorous rebel like Red, he could have been executed on the spot. He had bided his time carefully and bit his sharp tongue for over six long months of agonizing torment until he saw an opportunity. Fortunately, Purple had pulled him down from that tree outside the capitol and kept him from freezing to death. If he hadn't…maybe he wouldn't be free.

Maybe…

"Hey, Red?" He mumbled, once again fighting the terrifying urge to turn around and look him head to toe before he slogged his suit on.

"Yeah?"

Maybe…

Tell him. Say it right now before you don't get a chance to redeem yourself. "I know we haven't known each other for a while, but I'm sorry I haven't been as welcoming as what I should have. I know you've been through a lot, and I've found a way to fight you no matter what you say so, um, I'm sorry." Purple's voice was a ghost of a whisper, caught up in a jumble of nervy opinions and risky condolences combined with the flutter of insects invading his spooch.

Maybe…just one look.

One. A deep, reassuring inhale.

Two. Heels brushing fluttering grass.

Three. Frozen stares lock against one another.

Four. Regret.

Five. Regret? Or something much worse?

Red had gone completely rigid mid-tug, pulling up his soft, overly expensive slacks as Purple swallowed thickly around the lump forming in his throat and immediately lamented his actions. His friend had gone to say something, mouth hanging awkwardly agape and wholly transfixed on the blatantly obvious, questioningly prying stare eating away at the horrendous number of scars tearing through his body and painting him like stars and vast nebulas on a map. He was so young and boisterous but he'd already seen better days, just under 250 and treading dangerous knife fights and gunshots to the side coupled with plasma burns across his thighs from the overabundance of hot magnesium from failed bombs he'd dropped onto his sensitive skin. Huh. Purple had been sure Red had tanned, but richly darker complexion must be natural at rest, his piercing gaze calming and following every curve of his body from his broad, stocky shoulders to his defined abdomen and down...down between his thighs to…

Purple choked on his own tongue as he sputtered and realized exactly what it was he was staring so inelegantly at, eyes flying wide and snapping up as Red frowned and snatched for his jacket to cover himself with a hot pout, watching as Purple scrambled about and tried to look inconspicuous. He grabbed for his own set and began to horridly, and clumsily, shuck his soiled layers, too embarrassed to pull free his boxers and working on his pants in a fit of mortified compunction. Stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid! Why did he have to do something like that? Why did he have to do it at all in the first place?! Was he diseased? Was he so overcome by the adrenaline fueling him that he decided to break the boundaries he himself had set by invading another man's privacy so intimately? Irk, he was a total fool. A complete, utter, ridiculously savage fool.

He worked on unbuttoning his shirt in discomfited silence, slowly getting dressed through the humid mist transpiring from the thousands of plants around them and tugging everything on before straightening his bowtie and dutifully flattening his collar. It was restrictive, but it would do for now in order to keep the peace and keep Red in the dark about his shady intentions…whatever they were. Finally, he turned back, keeping his humiliated gaze to the two polished black boots that had been set up for them as he lowered himself down to the ground and began to sling them on over his slim pantlegs, waiting for Red to reem him in half like a phonebook for his insolence and surprised when the anticipated, blistering violence didn't come. Instead, after finding a tiny bit more courage and choking down his own wounded pride, he glanced back up under his drooping antennae and blinked when he was met with a smile and a kindhearted hand extending down to help him back to his shaky feet.

He hesitated a moment before glancing to the side with a masking pout of distain before taking his friend's forthcoming palm in his own and entwining their fingers. His strength was impressive and welcome, a single sweeping tug pulling him to a stand before politely dusting him free from the splotches of dry soil he'd collected.

"Sorry…a-again. I-I mean sorry for both things! I'm sorry I was so rude to you before and called you a creepy stalker and I'm also sorry I accidentally," Purple paused, a bit guilty that he had to lie, "a-accidentally saw things I shouldn't."

There was a swift silence before Red chuckled and gave a flippant shrug, moving past and examining his new look in the reflection of the impressive window spanning the length of the back wall. "You don't have to be upset about something like that. I accidentally saw you naked back in the ship, so we'll just call it even now." He glanced over his shoulder and flashed his jittery friend a genial beam, letting it quickly dip into a stoic, furious frown when he heard the hatch swing open and gently shut once more.

Purple let his breath hitch, spinning and taking a step back to follow Red's potent glare and freezing cold in his tracks when he was met with five tiny slits of black eyes blinking respectfully back with pungent, white iris' darting this way and that as their owner examined the room and the mess that the two had made with their tattered outfits before looking back. She was tall, lean, and bony with gnarled knuckles covered in expensive gemstones and gold bands pilfered from Empires she had taken in her clutches from long ago and stomped under her long feet crammed impressively into two high leather boots. Her robes were modest and clean, flowing white trailing down into a shapelessly formed tunic decorated with the finest sashes of silver silk and trimmed with what Purple could only assume were diamonds based on the absolutely cosmic shine they gave off and dotted with a stunning golden embroidery depicting scenes of warfare and Callnowian excellence down the hem of her skirt. Her dark brown skin was tanned like suede with age, and her thin lips were curled into a natural, but disturbingly unsettling, sharp-toothed smile as her claws clutched at a snack platter and offered it down to the petite table.

"Ah, I trust you've made your journey safely?" The woman asked, rubbing at her sore, arthritic joints and reaching up to adjust the polished gold of the diamond headpiece perched daintily atop her braided mess of sentient, wavering locks. "I've been waiting for you two to arrive together ever since the Flesh Treaty was drafted at that quaint little desk your Tallest and I shared. Please, won't you come and eat something?"

Purple felt a sharp pang of grumbling hunger rip through his spooch at the sight of opulent candies drawing him in like the finest liquors he'd ever seen, each wrapped to perfection and each a different, unique flavor ready to melt over his tongue. He glanced to Red who had shoved his greedy hands deep in his silken pockets in an effort to keep them out of the overflowing tray as his mouth watered dangerously in response to the honied smell of sugar. How long had it been since they'd eaten? Hours? Days? Everything was beginning to run together and leak to the floor like ink spilling from a wet page and distorting every memory Purple clutched to.

The woman waited a moment longer, her smile refusing to fade as she gave a convivial laugh in response to the lack of trust thrown back at her wrinkled face like a slew of batons. "You two are so sweet, aren't you? I saw what you did to my daughter and, I have to say, not many can handle her like you can, Styx. Thank you for coming back and knocking some sense into that wild little thing."

"Why does everyone keep calling me that?" Red mumbled under his agitated breath, shooting straight when the Callnowian turned back and craned her magnificent hearing forward, extending a scaly hand forward and beckoning him over.

"Come here, darling. Let me have a look at what you've become." She asked shortly, her demeanor changing slightly as her hands dipped into the gargantuan tray and plucked a sweet morsel free, unwrapping it as she would a lover before pressing the cherry goodness to her lips and taking her time with it when her snakelike tongue flicked forward. "A few of my men have told me you go by Red now. You charmer, how did you know that was my favorite color?"

Red gave a fake, overexaggerated gag and shuddered when she popped the crimson candy into her mouth without breaking firm, unwarranted eye contact. "Heh, long time no see, Ipi." He felt his jaw lock when the bony Prime Minister strode forward and swiped a finger between his eyes, thinking a long, hard moment and shaking her head with the tut of her tongue. "What? What the hell did you see?!"

See? Ipi could see through touch?

Purple followed her now obviously dead stare as she prodded at Red once more, scenting her surroundings with her thousands of long black feelers and running them up over his face as he sputtered and clawed them back. "Oh dear, you were once so handsome. It's a shame you're covered in so many ugly imperfections and clouded by so many unsightly thoughts. So much death and destruction, so much uncertainty and heartbreak. I see that you're still dealing with your secret fantasies and curiosities that gave my daughter so much trouble before, unlike your beautifully perfect friend." Ipi turned and straightened back up, urging Purple over with an indulgent, undecided sigh.

Terrified, he followed Red's lead and did as she asked, moving over on light, apprehensive toes and holding his breath when her chilled middle finger swiped down between his eyes to read through everything he knew but could never say out loud for fear of others knowing the true, unmasked personality hovering underneath the glowing skin and prized eye color. She curled back, forcing him to squeeze his eyes shut when she ran a stunned claw the length of the healing scar spanning over his eyelid and breaking him like a porcelain doll, much to her immediate displeasure. Red slunk over, taking Purple by the waist and positioning himself inbetween the two as a buffer when Ipi shook her head in demanding disappointment, running the length of his inadequacies in the air before balling her long fingers into irate fists. In an instant her demeanor changed from something kindhearted and grandmotherly to politically savvy and distastefully furious.

"I told Del to send us someone untainted and unsoiled! But you…you're scarred and you've been touched by another!" She brought a hand to her throbbing temple with a heavy heart, groaning raspy and low before returning to her candy and rummaging about for something to soothe her frayed nerves. "I needed someone pure and untouched and that inexperienced youngling couldn't even do that."

"It's not my fault Lire decided to do what he did and taint me for a purpose you don't get to control me over!" Purple defended over Red's shoulder on a whim, trying to preserve what little reputation he had left. "I'm allowed to make my own decision and I'm happy I'm finally here to tell you to…t-to…_fuck off_!"

Red groaned when Ipi spun to the insult, slinking forward like a snake and hissing wildly in his direction. "Ipi, come off it. You've lost and we're here to take you with us, whether you like it or not. You talk big but look at you, you're literally a bag of bones at this point and I can club you to death with my hands if I want." He rolled his eyes when Purple clutched at his hand and growled a throaty, ominous growl back. "So, if you don't want to end up pulverized to dust, I suggest you tell me where the five thousand Irkens you kidnapped have been taken."

"The five thousand you say?" Ipi scoffed, her locks stiffening with her mood before contorting and writhing once more in the air. "You mean the ones we farm? You used to be part of them, so you should know where they've gone."

"Quit being cryptic and help me out here so I don't have to do this the hard way, you disgusting snake!" Red took a deep breath and willed his panting to calm when he labored to remain diplomatic. "I'll ask you again; where are they?"

Ipi paused, scooting free a chair and slinging an elbow up on the table to fiddle with her rings. "You're not ready for that answer, Styx. You've been through so much and all over this universe while we searched for you, all to hope that you stayed pure enough for me to use and here you are, a slut who frequented back alley stripclubs and experiments with men to his flippant desires while contemplating abandoning his friends. How low of you." She turned to blankly stare in Purple's direction before Red could retort. "And you, oh, I had high aspirations for your blood my darling. Unfortunately, you've been tainted by the scars of war, the hard hand of abuse, and you've been touched intimately by another man whether you realize it or not. Why do you trust him? He'll only lead you on to fulfill his own political agenda before dropping you like an insect like he's done to so many others in the past. Too bad your soul has felt the tug of affection and companionship. I ordered Del who ordered Lire to keep everyone from your room while we were cultivating you because if you felt the pangs of adoration, the hormones in your blood content would shift and become unusable. Shame. I guess I'll just have to filter your crop a few more times before I use it."

Woah, woah, woah there was a lot to unpack here. Red liked…he liked men? But he was in love with Tak, wasn't he? And what the hell did she mean he'd been touched by the affection of another man? Lire had only hurt him and maimed him like an animal meant for slaughter. Oh..oh no. She didn't mean Lire, did she? She meant the protective powerhouse smoothing his comforting thumb into his ribcage as he maintained his protective stance and refused to back down in the face of adversity for his sake. Ew…ew! No! He and Red weren't anything!

"I don't know what you're talking about! Your creepy hands don't know what they're talking about!" Purple snapped, pulling harshly away from Red's touch and almost tripping him in the process as he stalked around and threw a hot finger up in Ipi's seemingly ancient face. "You're gonna tell me where our people are or I'm going to strangle you!"

Silence.

"Tell me!"

"No."

"Why?!"

"Because they're nowhere anymore."

"What do you mean _nowhere_?!"

"We used them up. They're deceased."

_Deceased_.

Purple clamped a sickened hand over his mouth and took a stumbling step back as his fleeting, confident visage shorted out and shattered, instantly drawing tears to his eyes as he faltered and lost control of his senses. He brushed into Red who was equally as stunned, reaching out and slamming a hand into the wall for stability when he threatened to go down. Five thousand souls lost. Five thousand innocent Irkens of all ages and sizes murdered for the prospect of their eye color and their vivid pink blood siphoned through DNA tubes hooked to their PAKs and draining them away to nothing more than ashen, crippled piles of nothingness.

They failed.

They failed…

Ipi brought her withered hands together to unwrap another candy, smiling up at the stink of despondent depression wafting through the air and tangling with her mess of sticky, long locks as she giggled and chattered excitedly. "Don't worry, they didn't go to waste, my loves. They'll give so much life to my people and yours once my men are able to mix their sweet, sweet blood with our own."

Purple couldn't believe what he was hearing, flattening his antennae as the room began to spin and the heavy iron hatch swung open once more to reveal two heavily armored guards with jingling shackles clutched in their domineering fists. "What…what do you…"

"Don't worry, my adorable Nemi. Your blood will give me, and your Tallest, eternal life."

* * *

OH BOY WHAT A CHAPTER! I HOPE YOU ENJOYED, AND HAVE FUN UNTIL THE NEXT UPDATE LOVES! I LOVE YOU ALL!

_**Next update: **_Wednesday_** March 4, **_2020_** at 10:00 pm CDT (UTC-5)!**_


	14. Not Safe

Hello and welcome back to chapter 14! Woah! Has it been this many chapters already? That's pretty intense, actually, and I'm so happy that you guys are continuing to review and give your opinions here! I will never, ever get tired of reading your reviews, and I appreciate them more than I could ever write in words! Thank you so much to each and every one of you out there, I love you all and I really, really mean that. This project couldn't happen without you!

_**CHAPTER RATED VERY STRONG M (PLEASE READ THIS PARAGRAPH)!**_ This chapter deals with very, very sensitive subjects this time around, and I want to explain that I in NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM condone sexual acts without clear, enthusiastic, coherent consent. Rape is a very serious topic, and one that is unfortunately all too real around the world, and if you are a victim of sexual violence in any way, please reach out to your authorities, local crisis line, or a trusted other to help you through these difficult times, and remember that it isn't your fault and you can get help. Please, stay safe, and I love you.

**Chapter rated strong M for obvious depictions of rape/non-consensual sexual acts, allusions to PTSD, talks of suicide/suicidal intentions, suggestive themes, brief heavy language, perilous themes, and general adult content.**

* * *

THREE MONTHS IN THE RECENT PAST

Just don't focus on the sensation and it'll be over soon.

Lay back, set your lips to habituated autopilot, and go to your happy place in the middle of the very nebula you'll find one day as he rides out the high of whatever he demands be taken that you know you'll never get back. You'll be ok…right? You'll survive this, no matter how much you think you won't in the heat of the terror folding in around you and pinning you into your own mattress. Think about how amazing it'll feel to finally break away from this hideous place and walk through the escape chute before you jet out into the cosmos to find someplace new…someplace safe.

Safe.

This wasn't safe.

This hurt…t-this hurt more than anything he'd been subjected to. Maybe if he stopped struggling, the authoritative hand over his mouth would ease up and let him take a sharp, shuddering breath or the firm, writhing sensation against his delicate heat would pull back and finally let him sleep. Irk, no! That only made it worse…n-now he…now he thinks everything is alright. It's not alright. It isn't alright anymore and it never will be. No one would ever know what he had been forced to do against his perilously sobbing will, no one would ever know that his disgusting, demonic advisor had grown too riskily impatient with what little he could touch or push into without getting caught in the act and reprimanded. This time was so terribly different; this time he stole away what he claimed was the property of the Empire nobody knew was deeply ingrained with morally unstable evil. He was short and stocky, unfortunately small enough in size to take him without causing physical damage that would undoubtedly be noticed by the Control Brains and Callnowia, but the pain of it all was still too real.

The physical pain of being forced open by someone he didn't love for the first time was numbing.

The emotional pain of being used and manipulated like a ball jointed doll was agonizing.

Purple stared forward when he felt himself dissociate as all sensation faded and left him with the familiar deadweight feeling of sinking, nodding on conditioned command when Lire asked him to move to his hands and knees before situating himself again and maneuvering him down into the mattress with a sigh of excited approval as words of praise echoed in the near background. Had he said something? Asked him to moan louder into the silken comforter beneath them as his quarters filled with the nauseating, irreparable creaking of the officer's box spring? He didn't know anymore, feeling his white-knuckled fingers go limp as he submitted completely and willed himself on to his happy place with every pained hiss and blatant whimper of tear streaked discomfort trying to force the officer away with the idea of mercy that he could never come to comprehend in his devious, malicious mindset. What time was it? How long had he been here and why couldn't he speak? It was if Lire had taken his voice and contorted it into something unusable and hidden, chucking it far into the rancid, molded abyss of self-loathing he was becoming. He didn't feel right in the mind and his knees hurt from the dig and pull of the woven fabric burning him with every motion, slamming every syllable that he never wanted to admit into his psyche as he tried not to think about everything that was happening. Purple knew what this was, but he never thought it would come this far. He couldn't do anything to stop it, counting the despicable motions when their hips would meet as his advisor increased his pace before squeezing his eyes shut and bursting into hot, unfettered tears when he felt something warm invade him from the inside and brand him with the mark of servitude.

_Ah, yes, that's it. Making love to you is so much better than I could have ever imagined._

Making love? This was not, and would never be, love.

This was _breeding_.

Cold, exacting, calculated breeding.

He shivered away and clawed desperately at his warped face when Lire hushed him softly and laid down beside him to pull him close into an unwanted embrace from behind that only solidified Purple's boiling terror, forcing him out of bed in a fit of unsightly, blind panic as he grabbed for sheets and pillows and chucked them back with scream after scream of violent instinct to defend himself. Why did everything hurt? Why did he feel like he'd just gone through the beating of a lifetime? He hated this place, he hated the man who continued to do terrible things to him, and he hated himself for letting it happen. No more. No more of this madness! Lire tried to reason through his revolting, damaging actions with the promise of hot chocolate and tiny gifts here and there as an obvious payment to keep him quiet about what had happened, setting alight the undying need to run.

Run.

It didn't matter anymore. If Del wanted to kill him, he would let him.

Purple cried out when Lire hopped up and ruthlessly pursued him, threatening to throttle him by the throat if he said anything about the forced agony he'd felt or how appallingly dangerous his advisor's actions had been to the sanctity of the Flesh Treaty, launching himself over pillows and dodging feeble punches to the stomach when his prize went on the brutal defensive. Purple snatched viciously at his face when Lire knocked him back against the wall, biting down hard on his gloved fingers when he reached out to administer an open-handed smack upside his jawline and kicking him back a few feet with as much strength as he could muster. He wiped at his foggy eyes when he threatened to fall into a harrowing, unforeseen mental collapse, careening towards the hatch and fumbling with the latch before he was able to sling it open and immediately let loose a torrent of stifled screams for help before something hard and metallic collided with the back of his skull and dropped him to the pristinely polished floors of the ship that had become his prison. An intense, sharp pain ricochet down his neck and ate at his PAK as he dug his fingers into the floor and gasped for breath, squeezing his eyes shut when a blackened, horrifically excruciating lapse shuddered over him like an earthquake.

Huh? W-Who…..what happened? Was he bleeding? No…Lire wouldn't…he wouldn't be that careless…Irk, everything…where…? Why was he on the…the floor? This wasn't right. He was running, wasn't he? What was he running from, again? Lire…Lire had…

The hatch closed with a soft click followed by the sounds of the wall pad being jiggled open and Purple could barely remember hearing the faint ping of an override code being entered in the panel, effectively locking him in his own quarters from the inside and out until someone with enough authority had enough compassion to slip food into his room or bring him something to drink. He had messed up, hadn't he? He was going to be stuck here for the rest of his days, unable to go on nightly walks in his hooded cloak and stop at the observatory for a quick glance over where they had ended up in the vastness of the Universe. He slurred something out in disoriented protest when Lire's harsh hands landed at his ankles, heaving and dragging him back before struggling to hoist him up into his bed when he ragdolled and nearly slipped out of the threadbare consciousness he was somehow still clinging to. His advisor promptly set the titanium lamp he'd used to crack him in the back of the head back up on his nightstand before ordering something he didn't understand, forcing Purple back down with calloused hands when he labored to push up before taking his leave and flipping off the lights.

Silence.

Purple didn't remember much after that, knowing that he'd slipped into a comatose state of trauma induced insentience, catalepsy burning at his eye sockets and dragging him in and out of an unwanted state of reoccurring blackouts from the steady damage he'd seeping deeper into his head. He tried to get up a few times through the night, finding that he was completely unable to move between the deep ache between his legs and the intense bruise in his skin that his PAK was desperately trying to tend to, sedatives coursing through his thickening bloodstream and singing him back into a state of swooning oblivion when he slung his feet over the edge of his mattress and promptly slammed into the floor when his knees buckled. He still couldn't wrap his sluggish mind around what had happened, part of him repeating on a hushed loop in his thoughts that it was all just a terrible nightmare. Lire would never be so careless as to connect them both in such a disgusting way, tying Purple to him for the rest of his days and permanently imprinting him with the label of uninvited bondage he couldn't seem to leave behind in the dust. He had been chosen for this life for a reason, one he still didn't understand, but one he also didn't care for. Maybe he was on the path to destruction as a scientist, thinking back to his happiest days in microbiology as he grew tiny cultures and watched hideous diseases destroyed by PAK technology and medicines of his own design. He wanted to provide his planet with a cure to it all, digging his hands into pond scum and watching tiny creatures flit about on microscopic slides filled with gooey substances other Irkens could only dream of. They had no care in the world, eating up chemicals and working together to form massive swathes of intensely powerful bonds that could devour any and everything Purple threw their way. They were so small but so infinitely powerful, something he couldn't find a way to relate to no matter how hard he struggled to make the connection. He felt small in a different way; a discarded hunk of sentient flesh used for the political advancement and flippant, fleeting pleasure that would only last mere minutes for Lire but would etch a lifetime of horrible nightmares into Purple himself, scarring him deeper than any physical agony he could endure and turning him off to the idea of ever being intimate with anyone in the future.

Was this sex?

He'd been taught in the Academy that sex was something to be cherished between two individuals who cared for one another, and should only be done when you felt loved, welcome, and safe with your partner. There was a brief talk on non-consent, but it was so rare on the planet as a whole that it was overshadowed by the glory of what intimacy could do to a bond, claiming that once you agreed to be with someone in that way that the two of you would forever share something beautiful with one another. Beautiful? Was what he did with Lire supposed to be beautiful? Was the feeling of being forced open against his will righteous? Why, then, did he feel like he had been battered through a storm, stripped of every shred of dignity in his soul, and stepped on by the deceiving wedge heels he had come to be nauseated by every time he heard them click down the corridor in the evening. He had so many disgustingly repulsive questions and not enough culpable answers to quench the flood attacking his shivering form as he tried to push up to his raw knees once more, tears of overpowering shame taking hold of him and pattering to the titanium between his shaky hands. This was _his_ fault, wasn't it? He had somehow tempted Lire in to take him for everything he was, somehow enticed him beyond recognition with his gorgeous beauty and enthralling charm he somehow couldn't turn off, paving the way for his eventual…h-his eventual…

He couldn't say the word. No. He wouldn't say it. Not here, not now, not ever.

Purple curled into himself when he heard a faint knocking at the hatch, covering his face with clammy hands and preparing for the worst, hoping with every fiber of his being that it was Del come to examine the evidence Lire had injected into his body before taking him straight to the airlock and shooting him into the peaceful vacuum of space itself. He was ready and he needed the sweet release of knowing this awful existence was finally over, that no more hands and squirming appendages would slap across his cheeks and use him without his permission to fulfill unsolicited, damaging acts of passion that were supposed to be preserved by the one he would eventually fall in love with. _Love_? Pfft. That didn't exist in this place…it didn't exist anywhere. Purple had asked the Universe for his white knight, someone compassionate, strong, and gentle to come and take him away as they lazed through the galaxy in their own ship and watched the Massive crumble and burn under the weight of its own immature insanity, but he was beginning to realize that there wasn't anyone like that out there. No one would love him like he dreamed, no one would care for him and support his decisions as a functioning adult, and no one would ever find him as anything more than a pretty face destined to be used by everyone he was passed to like a trading card.

The hatch finally popped free, setting Purple to jolt and instinctively clamp his jaw tight, his pulse escalating dangerously in his chest and making him woozy when the telltale crack of faint midnight starlight glittered across the metallic floor and hit him square in the eyes. He willed his rapid breathing to calm out of fear that he would pass out, clamping a hand over his mouth when the radiance disappeared once more with a tender click and lock of the powerful mechanics keeping him hidden away from the crew followed by two unfamiliar footsteps that he didn't recognize. Those weren't Lire's shoes, nor were they the opulent leather of Del's sharp heeled boots traipsing almost cautiously in his direction as the sound of vigilant breathing could be heard from behind what sounded like a respirator. Purple ventured a peek, blinking in the gloom when he caught sight of the rigid, guarded motion of someone he didn't recognize sweeping the area and rummaging around in his closet to ensure that they were alone, forcing him up to an overly curious sit before the sting in his back caused him to lay back down for some semblance of relief. The warming scent of sugar overtook the whole of the room and set his mouth to water deliciously as the tall stranger approached, setting something aside on his nightstand before clicking on and dimming the lamp to a soft glow and flying down to stoop to his level and hoist him up under his arms. Who the hell was this? Purple was stunned and confused, glaring back at the cloaked figure helping him to sit up in bed and propping pillows up behind him to keep him comfortable, the man's set of bug-like goggles concealing his eyes while an Elite respirator kept the remainder of his face hidden from sight. He had shrouded himself in a traditional advisory silk that treaded the floor, keeping the rest of his form swathed in billowing folds and cascades of opulent fabric that showed off his status as one of Del's closest cabinet members. He smelled divine, a strange resonance of spices that captivated Purple and comforted him in their balmy embrace as the mystery officer slung his woven comforter up over his lap and reached up with a gloved hand to turn his jaw to the side. That scent…it was eerily familiar but he couldn't pinpoint why or where from, quickly forgetting the stringent orange and delicious citrus to wince over the pinching tenderness left behind in his neck when the tender hands of his unexpected visitor turned him too far.

"What did he do to you? I heard you screaming but I couldn't get away to come without them noticing."

Purple weakly batted the intrusive touch away out of fearful mistrust, turning back and catching his bruised reflection in the radiance of the officer's lenses and grimacing, diverting his gaze to his lap out of sheer disgust for how shattered he'd become. There was an urgency to the voice fluttering over his limp antennae, distorted on purpose by turning his respirator up to the highest setting and sending a shiver down Purple's sore spine when he tried to tug away. The man let him go, scooting back to give him space when he threatened to cry once more, holding himself perilously together and hoping he wouldn't fall apart again, not that it mattered at this point anyway.

"Are you here to kill me?" He mumbled hoarsely against the dry scratchiness in his throat. "If Del sent you to make it look like a suicide, just do it already. I don't even care if it's painful at this point, just choke me or something."

The officer shied back and brought his hands together momentarily before rubbing nervously at the back of his neck through his thick hood, pulling free his antennae to scent at the terrible smell of fight or flight pheromones lingering over Purple's bedsheets and mixing in with the undeniable twinge of mating.

"Kill you? N-No, I'm here to, eh…it's complicated." He reached forward and grabbed at the cup he'd generously brought by, pulling his respirator down just enough to blow away some of the steam and reveal two thin lips before replacing it and passing it on. He cleared his throat and made sure his voice had distorted once more before speaking, helping Purple to clasp his erratic hands around what appeared to be a cup of simple herbal tea. "I wanted to bring this to you from my own personal stash. It'll help with your nerves."

Purple wasn't buying it, staring down at the mixture of strange plants and honied sweetener before narrowing his eyes in horrid distrust. "Poison? Del thought poison would be the way to go? Irk, what a total idiot, that'll take ages to kill me off!" He sniffed at the substance, using his scientific scrutiny to try and figure out what the strange man had brought him. "I don't smell anything weird in here, though. Is it an experimental drug they're trying out on me again, or is it something worse this time?"

The casual acceptance of his own sudden death in Purple's exhausted voice obviously made his guest incredibly nervous, setting him into a fit of twitchy claws and restless squirming as he listened. "N-Neither. Del doesn't actually know I'm here so if we could keep this discreet, I would appreciate it because this could be bad for us both if he found out. D-Don't worry, though, I promise I'm a friend!" He added quickly, fumbling into the pocket of his robes and plucking free a chocolate candybar before setting it gingerly on the bed and standing to pace. "I wanted to come in to say that you're not alone and this will all be over soon. I can't tell you who I am or what I'm doing, but I promise on my life that you'll be safe as long as I'm here."

Purple shook his head and rolled his eyes, tracing the lip of his piping hot mug with his fingertip as he wearily listened to the rushed lies spouting back in his face. Safe? Bullshit. He would never be safe as long as he was stuck on this ship, and by the strange erraticism of the concealed advisor hastily explaining his situation before inching back forward, he didn't believe it either.

"Who are you? I know you can't tell me, but do you work for Del as part of his cabinet?" He asked flippantly, giving up on any formality out of sheer tiredness for what he'd been through. "I'm guessing by your expensive taste and all your shiny new equipment that you're one of his favorites; maybe head of Defense or Strategic Command? If you came here to sweet talk me into giving you a blowjob, then let's get this over with already."

The officer reached up and tugged on his antennae out of frustration, staring up at the ceiling through his tinted lenses with a heaving, exasperated sigh of irritation. "Dammit, I'm not here to take advantage of you! I'm here because I know what happened to you and I couldn't stay in the shadows any longer without giving you hope that this is almost over!" He moved back forward and took Purple by the hand, holding tight when he tried to pull away and running across his knuckles with a tender thumb. "Please, drink the tea and eat the chocolate and I'll make sure that idiot, Lire, gets the point and leaves you alone. I've been watching him and I'm itching to get into his head and make him hurt, but I don't think I can kill him without putting suspicion on you instead so I'm gonna make him sick for a while. I have big plans for you, but you have to hold on just a little longer and be brave for me. Please, just hold on a little longer, alright?"

"Woah, woah, woah." Purple slurred, holding up an unsteady hand when he had trouble following along with the mountains information pouring back at him. "How can I trust you if I don't even _know_ you? Or maybe I do and you're one of those gross assholes who comes by and uses my mouth all the time!" A pang of vicious anger shot up through his chest as he reached out and dumped his tea over the edge of the bed, listening to it slosh to the floor before setting the mug to the side. "I don't want or need your fictitious help! You're just like the rest of them, and I know you're only here to get on my good side so you can get in my pants and fuck me like Lire! What, are you jealous that he got that far and you didn't so you have to play the role of the masked 'hero' so you can have me go down on you to?!"

The officer began to panic, bringing a shaky finger to the front of his mechanized respirator and standing to wipe up the mess on the coattails of his robes, hiding away the evidence before snatching for the mug. "N-No! I-I promise it's not like that! Watch what happens over the next few days and I promise that Lire will get sick enough to put him out of commission and trap him in the med bay for a while. I want to take you away from this place now, but I…I-I can't. You're going to have to trust in me and stay tough like I know you are inside, Pur. Once our plan falls into place you'll never have to do any sick favors again." He paused, thinking long and hard about what words he was allowed to use. "I won't let him rape you again."

Purple's gaze snapped up, staring with an undying hatred back at the teasing intrusion taunting him with the promise of life and freedom that he knew would never come. Instead he jabbed a harsh finger at the hatch and watched as the advisor wavered where he stood. "Get out. Get out of here and never come back." He kept his answers short and simple at the mention of the word he was too afraid to say, finally peeling his gaze away and tossing the generous chocolate across the room in a fit of shattered anguish. "You have the nerve to come in here and….just…get out."

The officer trudged to the frame, swallowing thickly behind his mask and reaching for the unopened chocolate to gingerly lay it atop a wall shelf dotted with pointless gifts that Lire had given him in hopes of keeping him quiet for the rest of his days about their little arrangement, acknowledging the sheer discouraged pain in Purple's voice before entering his access code and taking his leave. He glanced back, watching through the sliver of light pouring in to slice through the depressing shadows before shutting it once more and rushing off in the opposite direction. Purple waited until he heard his footsteps deteriorate into the night before relaxing and letting loose a terrified, horribly deep shudder of a sigh he'd been holding back and waiting to succumb to for the short, perplexing meeting with the stranger he wasn't even sure if he'd hallucinated in his bizarre fugue state, letting it eat at him until he couldn't stand it any longer and decided to try and gain some semblance of horrible, unrelaxing sleep.

He would never get out of here…no matter how hard he tried.

The morning came and went and, as Purple waited for Lire to appear, he grew concerned. His advisor hadn't shown up for their usual early morning routine of tea and cakes to practice his eating etiquette, an unlikely change that set him alight with fretful worry now that he'd calmed down from his suicidal thoughts the previous night. Had they been caught? Had Lire decided to pin the whole thing on him? What if Del decided that Purple wasn't fit for the Flesh Treaty anymore and decided to actually murder him when he least expected it? He'd wanted it in the moment but now, after a heavy-hearted rest, he decided he still had a bit of fight left in his exhausted soul to batter Lire to a pulp should he come back again. Only, he didn't.

News had spread quickly of Lire's sudden deterioration with an unknown foodborne illness, giving him the worst food poisoning he'd had since his admittance to Del's council and putting him out of commission for an estimated two weeks time. Purple couldn't believe it when the stand in advisor came by to tell him the strange, unexpected news, glancing across the room to where the phantom visitor had left a sweet, midnight candy bar for him during what he thought was a mirage, a pang of excitement bubbling in his spooch when he realized that it was still perched on the edge of his shelf. Someone really had visited him from within Del's cabinet and, even if his words weren't true, at least he had hope.

Hope…maybe his estranged visitor could be his white knight.

* * *

PRESENT DAY; IPI'S MANSION; CALLNOWIA

Purple took a deep breath and stepped forward, extending his arms out to be shackled and refusing to give up a fight when two burly Callnowian guards strode forward and yanked him along. Red wasn't far behind, still stunned silent and white as a sheet as he blindly followed his friend's motions and stared blankly down at his feet. Ipi continued to dig through her candy dish, selecting a few things and following closely behind as her pure white robes fluttered with every step, stopping at the main hatch and popping a sweet in her mouth as one of her guards took her by the crook of her arm to lead her sightless eyes on through the metal frame and into the stairwell with their prisoners in tow.

"You two will still serve a purpose for us, as you may have already figured out." She explained, heels clicking against the grating of the stairwell as she continued along and listened to the devious clink of shackles and metal cuffs rubbing wrists raw. "Your Tallest and I are…how do I put this delicately…_involved_ with one another. My sweet Del, bless his soul, is unfortunately an idiot but I love him nonetheless."

Purple lurched forward when he was ruthlessly shoved into a steady gait, watching with mounting concern to where Red refused to respond, holding his claws together with a timid lack of resolve that set him on edge and alerted him to the idea that Red may have finally given up. He'd lost everything he loved to this mission; his girlfriend, his teammates and family, the five thousand others he'd worked so hard to free, his citizenship, and his will to keep going with it all…everything was lost and completely annihilated before him and Purple was growing uneasy with the lack of light, powerful determination shining back in his eyes as he followed along without so much as a raunchy protest or insult to the Prime Minister's wrinkled skin. He looked hollow and worn down, sick even, as he trudged a few feet behind Purple and dragged his polished dress boots against the rusted metal of the transport stairwell. Ipi's obnoxiously kind voice wasn't helping, grating on both of their nerves and causing Red's limp antennae to twitch with every step he took and word spoken, mouth hanging slightly agape and flaccid as Purple faltered and fell into line with where he struggled to keep up with his guard.

"Red?" He mumbled under Ipi's narcissistic ramblings as they descended back into the dark belly of the mansion to whatever fate awaited them. He glanced up when one of the guards stared back in confusion, obviously straining to pick apart his Irken accent as he spoke and buying him a bit of time. "Red, look at me, I have an idea."

Red refused, shaking his head with a depressed despondency that reminded Purple of how broken and abandoned he had felt after his molestation and rape from Lire, taking a deep breath and fighting off the shivering sensation of nauseating flashbacks trying to consume him. He didn't know what to say to get his comrade's attention, sweeping over his face and blinking when a notion hit him that he'd almost forgotten from his recent past. Red…the Elite cadet posing as a General and hiding amongst Del's cabinet to whisk him away from the terrors and toils of abuse…Red, the gruff but incredibly kind man who had been there for him in the shadows from the beginning. Wait, it couldn't be, could it?

Purple stopped in his tracks, dumbfounded when he finally made the connection before he was painfully shoved along by the heavy hand of his captors, falling back in line with the very same mystery man who had appeared in his room months ago to bring him the kindness and warmhearted touch he needed in the moment to survive.

"It's…it's you?" He breathed, stopping once more and glancing back when the guard barked something in annoyed Callnowian and caused him to jump in his boots. "You…Red, you're the one who came and talked to me after all that…um…_stuff_ happened? You're the one who made Lire sick?"

Red gave a tiny shrug but kept his despondent gaze averted, refusing to acknowledge the glimmer of final understanding ripping through Purple's amethyst vision and allowing him to look upon his bizarre friend with a lens of profound, blistering appreciation he never thought he'd feel for another. He saved him from two weeks of torture that gave him a reprieve from the painful, internally agonizing rape he'd kept hidden from the world. He'd thought Red was clueless to his darkest secrets and most despairing times but he had risked his very life and the sanctity of their now defunct mission to brew him a cup of tea he refused to drink, bring him something sweet to eat to take his mind off of the sting between his legs, and checked his wounds before he pulled away. The devotion and care put into everything he'd done from the essence of mint and traditional calming herbs wafting over his once terrified antennae to the remembrance of his favorite candy bar was meticulously put together and, even if Purple didn't appreciate it in the height of his own downhearted fear, he had come to wonder who it was that had come by and given him everything he needed to keep going.

Red.

It was always Red.

"Look at me." Purple whispered, reaching out when the guard looked away to examine the carnage down a few flights and brushing a slow touch over Red's elbow . "Look at me right now."

Finally, Red looked up, meeting his fervent, awed stare with a muted, hopeless one of his own. "Why? What's the point, Purple? I know what you're gonna say but nothing matters anymore." He peeled his gaze away when they passed the mangled body of Zim being slowly swept and mopped away by a dutiful cleaning crew. "Everything I've done, I've failed at. I failed at graduating from the Academy, I failed at keeping my family safe, I failed at keeping _you_ safe, and I failed at finding the five thousand lost Irkens that this whole mission was about. I'm nothing more than a dumb, pathetic failure!"

Purple felt his breath hitch when Red raised his voice, drawing Ipi's attention from afar and drawing a chuckle from her thin lips. "Oh my, you've finally just now come to the realization that you're trash? How pitiful for you to take so long and think that you could be a hero." She sneered lightly, renewing her hold on her escort's arm as they neared the end of the stairwell. "Don't worry, love, you'll have a chance to redeem yourself by donating what's left of that brutish blood for our research."

"Don't listen to what she says." Purple pleaded under his breath, waiting until Ipi's attention was called away by the blown in hatch as she carefully stepped around the mangled metal. "We're gonna get out of this and we're going to put an end to all of this bloodletting so it doesn't happen to anyone else. You and I are all we have now, but…I'm actually kinda happy I ended up with you, as stupid as that sounds now that I say it out loud."

He didn't really know where he was going with this, turning back to Ipi and bracing himself for the run of a lifetime. First, he needed more information.

"So, you said you're taking my friend's blood for research? I used to be a microbiologist, as you probably know, and I studied blood a bit on my own." Reel her in, be careful with your wording. "I'm actually curious to know what exactly it is that you're doing with all of this, and why your work extended to my own people. Five thousand Irkens is a lot of pints, and I'm not understanding why you'd need so much."

Ipi continued down into the frantic, half destroyed corridor of her science wing, picking up the scent of her daughter's blood from afar and stopping in her tracks. "Oh, darling, this isn't my work. This is your Tallest's work! He commissioned my men and our technological advancements to pull off an experiment he'd been itching to start since his own time in the Academy." She explained, voice dulling to something hushed when a team of scientists rushed by toting medical equipment by the armful. "You see, my Del fell in love with me hundreds of cycles ago when he was a Commander in the Armada and I was merely a translator for Irk before I became involved in politics. I was eventually relieved of my duty when my planet grew uncomfortable with Tallest Miyuki's expansion through this quadrant of the Universe, but Del continued to find me on his yearly vacations. We decided to elope and have been married ever since."

Purple stayed close to Red , taking him by the elbow and gingerly leading him on as he listened to the confusing change of subject. "I don't care about your creepy love life with my Tallest. I care about what you've done to purple-eyed Irkens like me. You've hinted at our blood giving you life, but I still don't see how that's possible." He was growing irritated at this point, glancing apprehensively into rooms and watching as jars of organs were transported to and fro to escape what little remained of Zim's perilous fires. "No one can live forever."

"That's just it, dear, no one _could_ live forever." A twinge of sadness vibrated through Ipi's voice as she shook it free and kept on with the deepening conversation. "You'll die because I say you will. But Del and I, we shall live forever. We've chosen our few to pave the way for the new regime that will never end, a beautiful utopia of policy and relationships never dying out. I'll never have to attend my husband's wedding and he will never have to attend mine. I'll never lose my daughter, our friends, or our council. Do you understand?"

Purple listened intently, disgusted and disturbed by the encroaching finality of the conversation. He opened his mouth to speak before a guard clamped a hand over his mouth and ushered him into a side room as he thrashed and kicked, watching in terror as Red gave in to the very torment he'd escaped from in the first place. They were quickly led past an operating table, Purple moved to the sidelines as the guard patted the steel top and urged Red to lay on his back. He complied without a word, letting his depressing misery get the best of him as he slung himself up onto the table and rolled up his sleeve to thrust himself back into the routine he'd known so long ago when the hatch was locked. Purple fought violently against his captor as his pulse lurched and thrummed a mile a minute through his veins as one of the guards sat alongside his friend and too rolled up his own uniform to expose a dark, scaled arm to the bustling team of scientists and drones skittering about and grabbing for gloves and vials.

Ipi remained near the door, nodding slowly and licking her lips in anticipation for the transfer that was to come. "Del noticed something in his youth when he was engaged in combat, watching your people die around him in droves and becoming terribly affected by the pain and horror of it all. Every explosion, he told me, killed hundreds more and showed him the liminality of life itself. It was then that he decided something needed to be done to preserve what the Universe had given us so we would never have to say goodbye." She strode over and took Red by his weakened jaw, setting alight a fire deep in Purple's spooch to reach out and hack her to pieces. "He first noticed the oddities in purple-eyed blood when his friend was shot and bled out slowly, taking twice as long to die as the others. It's strange, the thickness of the blood pumping through your body, so we decided to take a look into why you were different and what we found was absolutely delicious. You both have an enzyme in your bloodstream that is unique to your hatching that allows your tissues to repair at an exponential rate. That alone, of course couldn't do much more than an Irken PAK could in terms of medically induced healing, but we began tampering with it."

Red hissed in pain when his PAK was pried open by expert hands and the crook of his arm was pricked by a thick needle, every blood cleansing system in his precious hardware being worked off as Purple watched helpless from afar. He attempted to elbow the guard in the stomach, hoping to get away without having to resort to drastic measures, but knowing he wouldn't get far as Ipi spoke up once more.

"We began adding chemical after chemical of whatever we could possibly think of into your sweet, sweet blood, hoping that it would somehow give us the answer to rapid healing and keep us youthful forever, but we couldn't ever find anything that was plausible or added that special kick." She sighed, watching with intrigued silence as her chosen guard was also pricked. "One day I became so irate with the whole silly venture that I broke a vial of test hemoglobin on the ground and cut myself in the process, dripping a tiny drop of my own blood into what we were hoping to achieve and, let me tell you, what we noticed was immediate. The color change, the texture of dust crumbling and caking over the tile, it was so strange to me. So, Del began running his own tests in our lab with the help of our good friend, Lire, and we found that when Callnowian enzymes are mixed with that of specific Irkens born with the violet birth defect, we are given a concoction that heals at an immediate rate and eradicates pain."

Red slumped forward and gritted his teeth, clenching his fist with a grumble of agonizing frustration when his PAK was tampered with once more. "G-Get on with it! If you wanna take my stupid blood, then take it already!" He barked, holding back the urge to go offline so he wouldn't feel the pain to come. "I don't have anything left to live for and I don't care about your reasoning anymore! J-Just…just take it."

No. That wasn't eternal life! The zombified, rotting visages of disturbing flesh and mangled tendons slowly healing themselves weren't life! That was unnatural and morally wrong in every way! Purple felt his alarm escalate to sheer panic, biting down hard on his captor's hand and drawing blood into his mouth before Ipi could finish explaining her still somewhat shady motives and crying out for Red's attention as he squirmed.

"No! Y-You can't! Please, Red, I didn't save you from that tree I found you in for you to die! Y-You've saved my life so many times and I didn't even realize it and I don't wanna see you throw it all away for nothing!" He begged as he hyperventilated, the fear of death overcoming his senses when he realized he no longer wanted to give up his soul to the devils threatening to take it. "You've shown me that I have a chance, no, that _we_ have a chance to fix this and create a world where we can decide for ourselves! I want you in that world! I-I need you!"

Red froze, Purple's words slapping him upside the face like a brick as he repeated the damming phrase in his mind as the medically induced tap of blood letting began, filling vial after vial of his warm liquid life as Purple fought to get away from the authoritative hands holding him down like Lire used to.

"Please! I need you!" Purple repeated once more with a bit more urgency, hoping to break through the terrifying wall that Red had thrown up between them as he thought and deteriorated. "You're the only guy who's ever been there for me, and…and…you make me feel safe!"

Safe? Purple felt safe with _him_? But…he said he was a creepy stalker. He was upset that he went on a tangent and hit him like he didn't mean. He didn't need him to survive, did he?

"Red, I'm serious! C-Cut it out and-!"

Red finally made eye contact when the powerful hands of Purple's captor clamped back over his mouth to restrict his erratic breathing, clamping down on his PAK to keep his mechanical extensions from bursting free as he struggled for breath and clawed at the gloves slowly suffocating him. No…_No_! Every cell Red's body was set ablaze at the terrible, mind-numbing horror staring back at him from the one person he had left in this sickening excuse for a planet and pathetic blip of a universe. Purple did things to him; beautiful, disturbing, unconventional things, and watching him labor and writhe under the hands of those who wanted to destroy the very glimmer in him that made him who he was and allowed him to be unique broke Red out of his despondency and drug him into the undying need to maim everyone threatening his sanctity. Purple was a saint. He had saved Red from his darkness by captivating him with his soft hands and even softer voice, bringing him back into his heavenly radiance and showing him what it meant to have purpose over the past six months. It was about him. It had always been about him.

Red nodded discreetly in his direction and sucked up his wounded pride before swiveling and ripping the IV from his arm, allowing a thin trickle of blood to ooze to the operating table and startle the medical drone as she skittered back.

Alright, let's do this.

* * *

Thank you for reading this chapter! The next chapter will deal with, ehem, the now obviously budding relationship between our two broken heroes as they attempt to fix themselves, so stay tuned!

**Next Update: Wednesday, March 11, 2020 at 10:00 pm CDT (UTC -5)**


	15. In This Moment

THANK YOU GUYS FOR BEING SO PATIENT AFTER MY CRASH! I'M SORRY FOR THE DELAY AND I MADE AN EXTRA LONG CHAPTER JUST FOR YOU TO MAKE UP FOR IT! I love you all and thank you for continuing to return because you guys are literally the best group of reviewers I could have ever hoped for and I love all of our unsung readers from around the world! Thanks so much!

THIS CHAPTER HAS NOT BEEN BETAED. SPELLING MISTAKES AND SLIGHT REDUNDANCY MAY BE PRESENT. I SIMPLY DIDN'T HAVE TIME TO SUBMIT THIS TO MY READER! Thank you!

**Chapter rated M for graphic depictions of blood/violence, graphic depictions of medical procedures, mention of past sexual trauma, obvious allusions to depression/PTSD, brief heavy language, perilous themes, suggestive themes, and general adult content.**

* * *

SEVEN MONTHS IN THE RECENT PAST; A MOON OFF OF MOO-PING 10

Red scrunched up his face and coughed, sticking out his tongue to the horrible excuse for a cocktail their waiter had brought by, instead turning back and snatching a shot of burning vodka from Tak's hand before she could pound it back. Skoodge had gone over to mosey his way into a conversation with two stout Vortian women, lighting up with a beam when they giggled and offered him a seat at their table while Zim stayed behind with the ship in favor of working on his own projects and keeping out of the strobing lights of the club they tended to frequent. The red-light district of Moo-Ping 10, huh? Gross. This whole place reeked of sticky sweat, rank shame, and candy-coated drugs, a dastardly mix that was always invasive against Red's antennae, forcing him to drown it out with the presence of alcohol and Tak's perfume. It was easy to talk here, easy to blend and not be spotted by the authorities they were all paranoid were looking for them through the streets or prowling around shaded corners to spook them out of their skin when they left to unlock the ship. Here there was the boom of strange Vortian music, the lull of exotic dancers setting men and women alike into mouthwatering trances, and enough laughing to pacify even the hardest of souls into good natured hilarity, prime real estate to discuss the horrid mission weighing heavily upon the collective thoughts of Lavender Fire; infiltrate Del's cabinet and hunt for information regarding the five thousand missing Irkens pilfered like cattle from their home planet.

Red scanned the crowds once more and swallowed down the final gulp of Tak's drink before slamming his now empty glass down on the table and feeling it take effect, giving him the much needed boost of false courage he desired to slide his transmission screen up onto the crumb covered table. He hastily unlocked it, scrolling across the blinding screen and squinting at the even more bellicose wafting of powerful, multicolored lights bouncing against his retinas in time with the music before he was able to finally locate what he had been searching for. Tak blinked and scooted closer, shielding her face and giving a quick once over of the crowd before taking a deep breath and whispering something Red almost didn't catch under the raunchy foreign lyrics deafening them all.

"Is that him? You're sure Del decided to grab another one after you left?" She muttered, taking the device in her claws and running her scrupulous gaze over the intensely white smile beaming back at her from the image her partner had managed to steal. "He looks so young and innocent. I doubt this is the one that everyone has their sights set on."

"No, no, this is him." Red grumbled back, snatching his transmitter once more and swiping a claw over the bone structure and amethyst eyes of the stranger glaring back with enough gumption to destroy an entire army. "This was all I could find in his old Elite file, and I'm positive that idiot Del had the rest destroyed. No blood records, no name, nothing. He's a ghost for all anyone else cares." He sighed and locked the screen with a groan, running a palm over his antennae and snapping for a passing waitress to shimmy over. "We need to get in and grab him before Del is able to go through with the treaty. If he and Ipi make this bizarre pact and he's sold off, something really bad is gonna happen."

The waitress smiled warmly and reached out with a scanner as Red met her with his points card, letting her siphon away his hard stolen cash in favor of another round of whiskey when Tak leaned back and pursed her lips in thought. "You always say that, but I don't get what you mean by 'bad.' I need a level to go off of."

Red shrugged and popped the top of the bottle set genially before him, filling his own flask from his pocket first before taking a tiny sip from the glass rim. "What's not to get, Tak? Whatever is happening out there, whatever Ipi is planning, it's going to be cataclysmic. I heard whisperings when I was set to marry Sen about…hm…" He thought long and hard for a few moments, collecting his racing thoughts to the best of his ability. "I don't really get it either, now that I think about it. They were saying something about my purity being off because I was from a Smeetery with bottom of the barrel DNA, which is actually pretty offensive I guess, but that's besides the point. They want someone pure and untouched by anyone else, and he's it. I don't know why, I don't know for what, but they want to suck him dry and use him to overtake _something_."

"Is he some kind of weapon, you think?" Tak suggested, leaning forward in the vinyl booth and resting a hand upon her lover's only to frown when he pulled back. She decided to ignore his cold callousness, telling herself that she was more than used to his change in demeanor over the past few months and opting to probe further into the inner workings of his strategic mind. "We know he was in the Elite and that he was a marksman, so maybe they want his skillset as a high performing agent. They could be taking his blood to grow better, stronger smeets somewhere to prepare for war."

Red chuckled with a snort, shaking his head in amusement at his girlfriend's overly serious expression to the odd, but quite imaginative, speculations pouring from her psyche. "Super soldiers? That's crazy!" He returned to the transmitter once more, showing off the peaceably innocent photo and jabbing a finger at the acutely lopsided antennae of their target. "He looks like a total clutz if anything, and I doubt this guy was anything more than a cadet in the first place judging by his age and the color of his uniform. I haven't played General for this long to go rescue an idiot, though, so there has to be something else going on in his head that they're seriously after. Why else would they want to crack him like an egg?"

Tak shrugged, resting her sharp elbows up on the corner of the table and waving when Skoodge glanced over for a bit of reassurance in his now deepening debate over Vortian politics with his new lady friends. "Please don't say it like that. You make it sound so gruesome and wrong, like he's nothing more than an experiment for them to play with." She shot Red a glare when he went to defend his asinine position, effectively drowning him out with her continued reasoning. "We know he's special, and we know he's being hidden away on the Massive for safe keeping so he can be transferred to Sen for marriage. They're so concerned about her staying in the limelight, so of course they would need someone handsome and young to take Del's place when he decides to step down and relinquish his position as Tallest, and he definitely fits the profile."

"Yeah, but _why_, Tak? We're not getting anywhere!"

"Love, I think you're overthinking this whole thing and-"

"I'm not overthinking! You always go there and I always tell you the same damn thing! I'm not paranoid, I'm not delusional, and I'm not only out for myself so get it all out of your head!"

Tak sat stagnant for a few seconds longer, toying with the hem of her deep violet, aline dress before forcing herself up to a rickety stand to silently make her way over to the bar. Red stayed behind, slumping back hard and groaning in mounting frustration when his girlfriend glanced back and promptly flipped him off over her shoulder. He continuously told himself not to worry about her but to focus on the sanctity of their mission and undermine whatever Del and Ipi had in store for their collective worlds, and they needed to steal the tall mystery man everyone was buzzing about in the immediate shadows and wanting to sink their claws into like soft, delicious candy. As much as he hated to admit, Tak was probably right about him. The guy was probably chosen at random in accordance to Sen's own personal preferences and just happened to fit her very long, excruciatingly extensive, bill, landing him the unfortunate job of a lifetime followed by a dash of unwanted servitude. Red scrolled back through what little Zim had been able to hack for them, grateful that his tiny, chaotic teammate was able to produce much needed results so dammingly fast under their antennae, squinting down at the screen and noticing something he had grazed over a few times but didn't think of as necessarily significant.

The mystery prisoner was hatched in the Veloria Smeetery.

Red felt taken aback, swallowing down another thick gulp of amber whiskey and swiftly fighting off the advances of a stout Vortian in a deep navy romper asking him to come dance, instead rereading the odd morsel of fact and rolling the word around in his mouth under the sweltering cascade of electronic sound. Veloria, huh? That was the Irken capital city, the most affluent and prestigious city on the surface and known for the purest, finest DNA strain in the whole of Irken kind. Anyone lucky enough to be cloned from the DNA of the original Tallest was destined for greatness and looked upon as an utter rarity and, to Red's flimsy knowledge, no one with violet eyes had ever been born to the Smeetery in the past several hundred cycles, if _ever_. The mystery man was one-hundred percent pure Irken greatness wrapped up in ethereally soft skin, wide curious eyes, and an IQ that would undoubtedly slander any officer who dared oppose him academically, carrying the very same blood of the first Tallest that had brought Irk out of the dark ages and into the light. Essentially, he was rarer than gold. He was more highly sought after than natural resources, more coveted than sugar, and more desired by Callnowia than any other unfortunate, razed soul drifting without a care on the winds of change creeping in to fend them all off like rats.

Red finally understood, nodding a bit to himself and slipping the petite device back into the shallow pocket of his thick suit jacket, staring unseeingly into the jumping writhe of the throng bouncing to the music around them. Why did Del need him? Why did Ipi need him? So what, he was pure? Was Tak's fantasy right; were they breeding a new race of super soldiers and ruining the chances of Irken greatness across the cosmos once and for all?

Who was this….Purple?

* * *

THE PRESENT; IPI'S MANSION; CALLNOWIA

"Fascinating. You dare pluck your IV free and spill your precious blood without permission? What a pity that you never understood how important you were to our cause, but I guess you're not anymore so what does it matter?" Ipi waved a disinterested hand when Red slipped free from the chilly operating table and glanced over in a frenzy, relieved that Purple's guard had plucked his hand away to allow him a horrified gasp for air. "I've given you more than enough chances to aid in my mission, my dear, but you always seem to have your own in mind. Did you really think you could ever become _Tallest_ of your own planet?"

Purple coughed thickly and writhed under the dominating hold smothering him against his will, the stench of leather and sweat invading his senses and mixing in with the metallic twinge of blood leaking down his friend's scarred skin as he clenched his fists. He tried with all his might to throw out his PAK legs and pry his authoritative attacker free from his aching ribcage, but the other scaly hand clamped firmly over his hardware kept them painfully in place. He struggled and thrashed, fighting back the instinct to go limp and freezing completely when Ipi's slick, calculating words finally crashed into him like a freightrain to derail any notion he had of Red in the past.

Tallest?

Red wanted to become…Tallest?

No, no. He wanted to find the five thousand Irkens who were now tragically dead and gone at the disgusting, nauseating clutches of the woman they were desperately trying to shoot through the eyes, not become Tallest. Purple pushed the notion from his mind, swallowing it down like a massive pill and halfway choking on his own blistering uncertainty for his friends motives crawling beneath his skin. If Red wanted to become leader of Irk, that would mean…t-that would mean he would need to get Purple out of the way, right? He had told him on more than one occasion now that he would make a fantastic leader for their people, not that Purple wanted the status or the political clout, but the idea that his friend would undermine his entire existence to take what he felt was rightfully his through blood and salty sweat was unsettling to the core and shook Purple beyond his foundations. No, reel yourself back in right now! Red would never hurt you! Even if he was interested in the allure of fine fabrics, expensive meals and snacks from exotic, faraway places, and the authority to squash anyone he wanted beneath his boots, Purple couldn't believe that the stoic, crimson-eyed demon bristling before him and ready to maim would ever do anything but protect him.

Right?

"You would have been so great, Red. I injected your blood into my daughter and Del's sweet little advisor, Lire, as test subjects to observe how the body would react to such a thing. Fortunately for us, they didn't reject it. But, now I've received word that you've murdered Lire and raked through my poor daughter's flesh and it doesn't seem to be regenerating properly, hinting to me that your purity standards are so below where they should be that I'm not sure I want to play with you anymore." Ipi reached back into the waistband of her robes and pulled free an Irken p-44 plasma pistol, cocking the slide and aiming directly between his eyes as he took a shocked step back and panicked. "There's only room for the purest blood in my household; fleas belong with fleas, wouldn't you say? Goodbye, Styx."

Purple screamed under the leather of his captor's hand tightening around his jawline, scrambling to ruthlessly claw and thrash as his pulse thumped dangerously through his veins and his PAK threw him into slow motion. He could see it all, eyes widening as Red threw out his long, mechanical extensions and rushed forward on agile feet, rearing back with a thick, powerful punch and a screech of harrowing, mind-numbingly feral determination sparking in his molten stare as he barely dodged a stream of white-hot plasma grazing his cheek and singeing his flesh on contact. Instinct. Fight or flight? F-Fight or flight?!

Fight.

Purple raked the heel of his dress boot down the shin of the guard pinning him like a butterfly, listening to him cry out when his scaled skin was torn free from his flesh, easing up just enough for him to spin in his hold and land a hit of his own when he heard Red make terrifying contact with Ipi's decrepit, crackling bones behind him, smashing through her ribcage with the sheer blunt force of his blow and pinning her to the ground as the whole of the scientific team took up scalpels and long, hideous needles to combat the alarmingly sudden peril their esteemed leader was thrown into. Purple bellowed something out in an adrenaline fueled rage, slurring Irken and Callnowian alike in a jumbled mash of risqué, warlike insults as he pummeled the guard back into the wall and surprised himself at his own strength for once, finding his Elite prowess as he grabbed him roughly by the collar and bit down hard on the hand coming to smack him upside the cheek. It reminded him of Lire and every unwanted, humiliating little smack between the antennae or across the cheek in public settings when he was allowed to leave his room, dominating him and keeping him in line like a disgusting, disturbingly obedient pet willing and able to serve in more ways than one no matter how much he bawled his eyes out the next morning. His vision snapped, narrowing to something focused and sharp as he continued to pursue the terrified Callnowian now ruthlessly backed into a desolate corner and throwing his hands up in front of his face to halfway defend himself as Purple threw out his own mechanical legs and administered the final, aggressively dooming stab to the abdomen that was needed to completely pop and destroy whatever organs hadn't been gruesomely bruised to nothing by his revoltingly pungent assault. He let the guard sputter and kick a few moments longer as the spark of precious life flooded away to the atmosphere through his wide, dismayed eyes, pulling back to reality when he hit the beautifully polished floor with a deadweight thud and spinning when Red cried out and hissed at the sensation of being stabbed perilously through the forearm with a piercing needle to the muscle and injected with something he didn't understand as he thrashed and fought against the weight of Ipi pinning him into the tile. He tried to fight it, throwing the medical drone off and cracking Ipi upside the skull before her maniacal antennae-like hair erratically swarmed over his body and shrouded him in an immobile cocoon of furiously alarmed lack of cognition when he lapsed and practically melted into her hold. Purple didn't know what to do, feeling every tendon in his body freeze over like ice and stiffen when Red lulled and struggled to keep himself awake against the sedatives pumping through his bloodstream and eating him alive from the inside out, burning up through his chest as he gasped and lolled to the side to meet Purple's petrified gaze for a final time before he went chillingly still.

Then…nothing.

No movement, no snarky backtalk, no cocky smile. Only a blank stare and a slack jaw as Ipi pulled back and took the needle with her, grinning when she shook her head at the appalling mess her target's suit had become, reaching down to place a gentle hand on the side of his face and rake against her skin with her devilishly long, manicured claws. No. No. No! They needed to get out of here! What was that?! What was in that syringe?! Purple began to panic, feeling his mind unravel as Ipi's creaky bones snapped in his direction, leaving his comatose friend against the floor as her staff of medical drones cowered in the far corner with blown wide eyes and panting breath to the uncertainty of the situation that was to come.

"R-Red?" Purple managed to squeak out, hoping his comrade would hear him and come out of whatever game he was probably playing. A game…yeah. Just a game! "R-Red, get up and quit messing around-"

"He won't hear you, love. That's pure Schloripps venom in its most concentrated form, used for sedation in small doses but used to liquify organs after an hour if injected into the muscle. I noticed that your companion already had a bite while you were running around on our security cameras, but the poor monster that administered it held back." Ipi tutted her tongue in aghast disappointment, brandishing what was left in the needle and allowing it to flash through the light. "Tick tock, my darling Nemi. He's got about an hour to live unless you cooperate. Wouldn't want to meet the same fate now, would you?"

Purple felt his mind slipping, unraveling like precarious threads in a nest before he took a step forward without thinking, staring up at Ipi's milky, dead eyes as she flicked the syringe with a finger for good measure and let the glass sing with a gentle tink. Cooperate? With what? Why did everyone seem to want him so badly? He was only supposed to marry Sen in the beginning but this…this was too much. This was too much…

"What do you want me to do?"

* * *

THREE MONTHS IN THE RECENT PAST; THE MASSIVE

Red straightened his ribbon bar with a smile, adjusting it precisely over his pocket and ensuring his crisp, deep ruby uniform was up to code before grabbing at his beret and flattening it down the way Del liked. His mission was already half over, and he still hadn't infiltrated Del's office to dig through his files for more information. This was getting to be dire and uncomfortable with Tak and the others sending him risky nightly transmissions asking for sensitive, dangerous information he still didn't have in his lack of focus. This was proving to be far more difficult than he expected, giving his uniform a final once over before flipping off the lights to his personal quarters and struggling with the lock pad on the hatch before slinging it open and stepping out into the pale light of the Massive's underbelly. Del had instructed him to remain below while Purple was up and about, not wanting him to know that they were secretly trailing him for protective purposes beyond what he had been briefed before, but that was also proving to be more and more difficult to achieve over time.

Red rounded a corner and nodded to two mechanics trudging by for their shift change, lost in thought as he made his way to the main elevator. Purple's scrawny little advisor was becoming dangerous and in the way, suspecting things he shouldn't have caught on to but somehow did regardless. At this point, Red was beginning to assume in the pit of his spooch that his much despised colleague was trailing him in return, always lying in wait a few steps behind him and questioning every bite of food he took when he would catch sight of him across the cafeteria. He had made it clear several times to stay away from his consort, something that was beginning to bother Red way more than it should have, but also setting the hook of aching suspicion deep in his mind and tugging him like a fish on a line towards something he was sure he was happening but had no definitive proof. Purple was kept under lock and key by both Del and Lire alike, only allowed to exit his quarters under a plain hood that hid his strikingly flawless appearance from the world and maintained an air of poised grace when he walked. He had never made eye contact with Red in any way, keeping his disjointed, blank gaze to his food or books whenever he had the rare opportunity to gaze upon him for a few milliseconds, hoping with every fiber of his being that the gorgeous vision of utter perfection would notice him and give him a soft smile before he turned the page. But that's not how this worked.

Red sighed to himself and reached out to scan his ungloved palm on the elevator pad, slipping his fingers back into the stuffy leather before the two tinted doors whooshed open and dinged out their compliance, allowing him to input his access code and security clearance to take the pod all the way to the peak of the gargantuan flagship. He held his breath and waited, stopping when the computer thought a long second and stalled to run over every strip of code he'd fed the system, finally flashing bright magenta in agreeance before gingerly shutting closed and taking him to his perilous, illegal destination; Del's private quarters.

Over the past three months, Red had wiggled his way into his Tallest's personal cabinet, sweet talking advisors and officers alike and bringing his sickening excuse for a leader midnight donuts when he was stuck on the bridge longer than he expected. The yellow-eyed menace was apprehensive at first and only chose Red to watch his prize due to his reputation as a false General on the battlefield, believing every line and syllable of the surprisingly believable report Skoodge had eloquently put together in the safety of their ship. It wasn't long, however, before the two had engaged in a budding friendship, allowing Red to climb the ranks and be promoted to Del's right hand strategic analyst. His Tallest asked him advice on almost everything from clothing choices for speeches, to rebel factions getting in the way of their advancements, to what Purple should learn next about Callnowia in his strict curriculum. Of course, Red had always met him with a carefully cultivated smile and arms wide like a gentle prophet, nodding along with his terrible ideas and scheming dockets that denied his home planet necessary food provisions in favor of keeping them all to himself. Red would be lying if he hadn't thought about taking a thin strip of wire and strangling Del in his sleep, if he hadn't fantasized very seriously about stabbing him critically through the chest with his boot knife during his monthly public transmissions to Irk before bathing in his gooey, neon blood for everyone to watch and laugh at. He glanced up and ticked by the floors as the pod continued it's sluggish ascent with a faint, jovial ding, watching as the science wing flooded past followed by the deck of engineers working tirelessly to keep the ship's behemoth of a plasma core stable.

That was plan B.

If anyone caught on, Del would die. There was no doubt in Red's audaciously indomitable mind about it.

Red blinked, rocketing out of his homicidal intentions when the pod slowed to a stop and instantly thrusted him into a panicked sweat when he realized what level he'd landed on. He felt his spine go rigid when the pad was tampered with outside and the doors fazed open to reveal a nauseatingly familiar, worn face tipped with two crooked antennae and a mess of battle scars dotting two calloused hands, staring forward in racing fear when the telltale click of wedged boots joined him in the deafening silence of the chute. Irk, why did it have to be him?!

Lire punched in his own code and glanced up to the floor that Red had selected for himself, his weary brow cocking and furrowing in confusion before he leaned back against the railing and looked his colleague over from the tips of his polished toes to his woolen beret with inquisitive bewilderment.

Don't say anything, don't say anything, please for the love of all that is morally just don't say anything!

"General Styx? What a pleasure to see you up and around so early."

Shit.

Red swallowed his own fear and flashed Lire a cheesy smile from above, nodding and taking a deep, calming breath when he noticed his two lopsided antennae twitch in mounting interest. "Ah, eh, good morning, councilman!" He began, wanting to disappear when his voice cracked on the finish. "I figured I'd start my duties early today since those crazy rebels on Callnowia are at it again."

Lire nodded slowly along with his words, suspiciously eyeing the illuminated floor once more and clicking his slimy tongue in his cheek. "Yes, I suppose they are."

The silence that followed was unbearable, setting Red on fire under his thick jacket and gloves and forcing him to shift with incredibly blatant nervousness as he avoided all attempts Lire took to hold his eye contact. Out of the four hundred thousand Irkens working on the Massive, he had to get stuck in the chute with Lire?! Did the universe actually hate him, or was it determined to test his resilience?

"Pardon me, General, but I noticed you're going to Tallest Del's personal quarters on floor 710. Was that a mistake or…_intentional_?" Lire asked casually, bringing his own claws together to brush at the silken front of his long robes. "Do you know that is technically illegal without permission from our Tallest?"

Red thought fast, the stink of distrustful intent stabbing at his rationality like a blowtorch and melting him under the surprisingly sweltering, beady stare of Lire's formidable gaze. Did he know Red was on his way to hunt through Del's personal transmissions or was he simply curious about whatever else was going on in between their social lives? Was he on the trail of Lavender Fire? Speak! Play it safe!

Red swallowed once more when he felt a lump form in the back of his throat, clearing it away with a swift cough and finally looking down to stare back into the lime gaze of the one man he hated more than anyone. He decided to follow up his question with a question of his own. "I'm going to deliver some top secret information to Del's personal letterbox regarding the Callnowian rebel movements in the eastern faction of the planet." He straightened himself back up, attempting to appear taller than he already was. "Anyway, I noticed that you don't have consort Purple with you today. Where is he?"

No answer.

"Councilman, it's my responsibility to keep him safe and protected from now until his transport to the capitol of Bornau for his transfer-"

"Shut up."

Red let his sentence fall flat over his tongue when Lire moved forward and stalled the chute in between floors, pulling away from the button and swiftly turning to back Red into a corner and throw a hot, guarded finger up into his face with an angry snarl. "You and your probing questions about Nemi always get under my skin. You're so interested in him to the point that it makes me wonder if you two are involved in something more!" He spat, not letting his target get a word in before inching closer and baring his sharp teeth. "He isn't yours to cultivate and grow, General! He's _my_ project and _my_ property until Del tells me to get rid of him so do your job and stay out of the business of me and the rest of my council or I might just slip a bit of misinformation to our Tallest about your perceived affections."

"_My_ perceived affections?" Red defended harshly, pushing off of the corner and towering over the intrusive insect. "You want to stand here, sir, and talk to me about what I can and can't do to keep my mission safe? I have height seniority over you by at least a foot and I'm not afraid to use my status to squash you under my boot like the cockroach I know you are. The rest of this ship may think you're a saint but I hear what you do to him at night. I smell the pheromones everyone else is too afraid to mention and if you think I'm too much of a sniveling coward to report you to the Control Brains, you better think again!"

Lire went to shout out a heated, blistering retort before shrinking back and staring down at his toes for a long, languid moment before finding the words he needed. When he spoke once more his voice was precariously level and calculated, sending an irate shiver down Red's spine with every letter. "I don't care what you think you know about Nemi and I. Everything I do, I do because he wants it. Anyone with two eyes and working ocular implants could see that he's practically begging me for it."

No.

Red couldn't contain himself, rearing back with a furious yell and clocking the shady, disturbing man in the cheek and heaving as he hit the ground and moved a shocked, pained hand to his now gory mouth, the pain quickly catching up with him as he spat to the side and groaned. He scrambled back in a frightened panic when Red pursued him, grabbing him by the hood of his robes and forcing him to stand before clouting him again and tossing him hard to the floor in a tiny trickle of his own spit laden blood. Lire groaned and wiped at his mouth with the sleeve of his uniform, glancing blearily up from below with enough hatred to blot out Irk's bright burning star, singing holes through Red's uniform as he attempted to catch his breath against the violent sting in his knuckles rubbed raw by the rough interior of his gloves upon contact.

"Y-You…You're not the only one who loves him." Lire wheezed, reaching for the guardrail when the elevator landed on the cafeteria floor and fazed open, waiting for him to leave. "I-I won't forget this."

Red gave the battered, pathetic excuse for an advisor a final sneer and watched as he limped his way out into the corridor, doing his best to hide the steady bleed between his teeth before rushing off like the coward he was deep down. When the doors closed and the pod shot off once more, Red balled his fists and slammed them into the side panel with a bellowing cry of frustrated distain, wanting nothing more than to sever Lire's hideous head from his shoulders and rocket him out into the vacuum of space to choke on the lack of atmosphere as his organs imploded in on themselves. He wanted to split him in half, to throw him in a moist, rank dungeon to starve as he peeled Purple's weary body from the bed that had become his home and carried him on to safety somewhere where he would finally be completely free. He needed to see that pearly smile light up, those salty tears dry on his cheeks, and that gorgeous mind flourish once more once he was able to rid himself of the mind-bending torture taking him by the night. Red hated himself for not being able to do anything, knowing that if he killed Lire like he so desired, Purple would be blamed and murdered in return and strung up as an example to anyone else that Del could possibly choose in the future. He needed to stay quiet, to stay hidden, and to hope with all his might that Purple wouldn't fall victim to the terror sweeping his delicate thoughts as he took his own life.

Hopefully this would be over soon.

* * *

THE PRESENT; IPI'S MANSION; CALLNOWIA

"Don't worry, this will all be over soon, my love!" Ipi giggled, tapping at her syringe once more in an attempt to intimidate Purple beyond belief and take him for her own. "What I want from you is your undying loyalty to my Empire. I won't kill you, oh no. You're far too special to me in ways you cannot begin to fathom."

Purple didn't know what to do, looking from the Schloripps comatose body of his friend going into stiff muscle failure against the tile to the blinded, ancient smile curling deviously up to show off two rows of flat, unnerving teeth bending to crane down from above. Think! If he didn't go with Ipi, she would let Red die. But if he did go with her, she still would, wouldn't she? Shit, what else was there to do?! There was always a third option, but Purple couldn't latch on to the harrowing terror rebounding in waves over his skull and crashing down to put pressure on his very morality and soul as his wild gaze continuously flickered back to the man that had saved him over and over again. He was the last of a dying breed, a virtual virtuoso of chaotic anger and passion for his cause…beautiful.

Even now…even in the midst of the peril, Purple couldn't help his wandering mind from singing out the word like a song in his mind.

Red was beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.

"W-What do you mean I'm special? Tell me what you want." He swallowed his shame and sighed, doing his best to keep himself together for Red's sake and flinching his tears away when he noticed his hands twitch and spasm. If only he had the capability to reverse engineer the Schlorrips' venom with heat, performing many similar operations in his youth as a scientist, but there was no way he could….wait.

Flicky.

Purple felt his breath stall in the back of his throat when he remembered Flicky and her strange attachment to his hip, following closely behind him wherever he went and waiting for his next instruction like an old friend. If he could find her, he could milk a bit of her venom and help Red's PAK to clean his bloodstream of the toxins slowly killing off his cellular function as they waited. How? She could be thousands of miles away at this point hunting the vibration of prey under the soil and darting about on her eight jiggly legs as she romped through the snow. Maybe…maybe she had waited for them? Maybe she loved them both to such an extent that she hung close under the ground to escape the daylight?

It was the only shot they had.

Purple stomped lightly on the tile, trying to remain inconspicuous and play it off as a miniature temper tantrum to Ipi's words as the vibration echoed down against the concrete and shot down through the ground. If she was close, she would hear.

Please.

Please come.

"You want to know what I need you for? Well, I own you, so I suppose I can tell you." Ipi moved lightly across the room, feeling her way over Red's contorted form and gently lowering herself down on a medical stool to cross her legs and straighten her opulent headpiece. "You come from the Veloria Smeetery on Irk, the most prestigious and pure station on your planet. Your blood, my dear Purple, is of the highest quality and the enzymes racing through you as we speak, when combined with my people's, produces the proverbial fountain of youth. You have the ability to make us all _immortal_."

Purple stomped again, scrunching up his face and pretending to pout before venturing another heavy pound. "You wanna take my blood just to make yourself immortal? What about me?!" He complained through his terror, hoping it was convincing.

Ipi chuckled, seemingly picking up his fabricated anger and drinking it in to her amusement. "I love you darling, but please be reasonable. You, over time, have provided my husband and I with enough blood to give us eternal life already and I must say, Del and I have never felt younger. Our skin is as strong as steel, our minds are as sharp as a Vortian's, and our physical ability has increased tenfold after you appeared on the scene. We were hoping that our unfortunate Red here would be the one we were looking for, but his blood was muddied by that sub-par Smeetery in the countryside, leaving him with a mix of undesirable recessive traits that we had no use for. We tried his mixture on my daughter and Del's pathetic little advisor, but it seems that they're both falling apart at the seams. But you…you're _perfect_. There hasn't been another purple-eyed Irken born to your Smeetery for over seven hundred long cycles, forcing us to wait and make do until we sniffed you out from afar and fell madly in love. Do you understand?"

This was too much to take in all at once, Purple's entire world coming crashing down around him when he finally understood the true reason for the infamous Flesh Treaty, stomping again as he held back his blinding, misty tears and choked on his own mounting hopelessness. He was farmed like an animal, used for his blood to solidify a marriage that was destined to never die, and promote the expansion of two corrupt leaders that never wanted to fall away from power. Ipi and Del would take the universe by storm, raking over planets and destroying entire regimes as they cackled and planted their joint flags on soil that was never theirs for the taking all because his precious lifeforce allowed them to never falter or feel pain. Why? Why did he exist? Why was he perfect? He didn't ask for this life, didn't ask to be sought after by every officer that watched him from afar and licked their lips with every glimpse of his freckled cheeks, never asked to be raped, never asked to watch his new friends die and be torn to thousands of gory pieces, and never asked to lose the one man he never realized had been there for him the entire time. Red had been there…he had been there to protect him to the best of his ability before he was forced to endure Del's agonizingly ruthless voice and Lire's sneers from the shadows as he watched longingly on and held his witty, risqué tongue to preserve what Purple had never appreciated until now.

Life.

He had asked for a white knight, someone to sweep him off his feet and take him far away from this existence. He was positive in the back of his racing, lilting cognition as he pounded down once more that flawless kindness and storybook romance was what he wanted more than anything. But the Universe didn't give him that, did it? It gave him a crimson cadet with massive anger issues and the inability to gauge social situation correctly before opening his irritating mouth. It gave him a man broken by time and shattered by everything that had hammered him to dust by siphoning away his blood and replacing it with an undying need for justice that couldn't be tamed, flickering back in his retinas from the moment Purple had caught sight of his sweltering eye color in the snow to the present as he stared blankly forward at nothing. Even if Purple hated him in the beginning and pushed him away with every chance he got, he had come to realize something in their travels and dangers together;

They were all they had.

He had no one else, and neither did Red. They were stuck together and bound by the toils of the star system to overtake every opposition threatening to eat them like sugar and spit them back out into the cosmos as exiles, two displaced souls searching for something more and swirling together to bloom into a blossom of death defying pigment and exquisite fortitude to survive. One soft spoken and unsure of himself, the other loud and terrifyingly resilient. Purple stomped a final time, weakly giving up his front and struggling to remain upright when his adrenaline began to wear thin to be replaced with nothing but bitter hollowness and excruciating failure. Flicky was gone and his resolve to fight had fallen away to the encroaching darkness snapping and snarling at his heels and ready to take him down to the destined pain and agony he had tried so hard to outrun. The worst part…his friend was going to die alone and cold with no resolution to his story. He would never see the light, never smile over his shoulder at Purple's ridiculous jokes…n-never…never hold him close in a warm, soothing embrace when this was all over.

This was it, huh?

Purple felt his limp antennae droop down over his skull and opened his mouth to speak his desolate, sickening admittance to Ipi's overpowering desires, ready to give up before he felt something faint below. It started as a tap, a scratching barely there and unnoticeable to even the most trained senses but clear as day to his heightened Elite training.

Scratch.

Scritch.

Scratch.

There it was again. He had definitely felt something. Purple swallowed, locking eyes with Ipi before slamming down hard on the ground and bracing for impact when the ground cracked without warning and split in a mess of dusty tile and fragments of steel flying outwards with booming velocity, followed by the confused warbling and chittering of the gargantuan behemoth barreling her way through the floor to catch what she thought was a tasty meal of sugar worms writhing in a ball through the mud. Flicky stumbled and shuddered herself free, earning a few terrified screeches from the medical staff as they scrambled for the door and out into the hallway, tackling Ipi to the ground in the process and dragging her away before she could scream out her overpoweringly agitated protest. Her manicured claws latched onto the doorframe in the pandemonium, her sensitive palm and fluttering hair scenting the air as Purple coughed in the aftermath and searched about in the chaos as he stumbled, diving for Red and heaving against the deadweight ragdolling in his arms and liquefying, happy when Flicky finally gained her perplexed bearings with a sharp screech and grabbed for Purple's PAK with her clicking mandibles to hoist him up against his will and drag the two along like her offspring.

"No! Grab them! Don't let them get away you idiots!" Ipi screamed as her team panicked to the horrific hisses and blinding venom shot back in their wake from Flicky's shuddering proboscis, searing their scaly skin and burning through their protective armor as they panicked in a frantic frenzy to peel it off before it acid molded to their sensitive bodies. "We can't lose him again! I need him to create our army!"

Army?!

Purple went to cry back, yelping when Flicky tore back off down the hole and raced her way through the surprisingly extensive network of tunnels she had dug in their absence, cool soil beating back in Purple's face as her body secreted sticky fluids to keep their journey fast and slick. He held on tight to Red, laboring to keep him against his chest in a tight embrace as they dipped and ascended at blinding speeds into the darkness, leaving behind the screaming voices barking orders in the now incredibly far distance. Red was cold, freezing actually, and had been reduced to a mess of chilly shivers as he began to sweat under his uniform, the emergency glow from his PAK the only source of horrifying light in the root infested corridors their winged friend had managed to cave out, her panting breath shuddering against the back of Purple's neck and keeping him somewhat warm as he began to formulate some kind of plan. He had to get both Red and Flicky somewhere safe and concealed so he could heat her venom, remove the impurities, and inject it into Red's PAK systems to bring him back online as he went into a state of sickened hibernation in his clutches. There had to be a town around here somewhere. A rural outpost? Something!

"Flicky! Listen to me very carefully!" He spoke quickly, glancing up and squinting as five long eye stalks craned down and glittered in the pale, insipidly blinking light of his friend's hardware before she stopped completely to listen. "I know you can understand me, I-I hope, and I really need your help! Red is sick, really sick, and I know you know this landscape better than anyone! Is there a place around here we can use for shelter without being spotted? I need to use your venom to reverse engineer the effects racing through his system and we only have…I-I dunno anymore! Um, forty five minutes, I think!"

Flicky stood stagnant for along moment, stretching her gooey stalks down to get a good look at the now completely unconscious body of the Irken she had pierced for chocolate on accident only a night before, flicking her long antennae forward and raking them like ropes over his face. Her gelatinous flank quivered dangerously in response to the disgusting stink of her own species' poison lacing his saliva and secreting through his clammy skin, quickly processing Purple's words into a language she could understand before shooting straight and pounding her legs throughout the tunnel to measure her direction, picking up on the fine ebb and flow of the planet's electromagnetic field before turning and smoothing her mandibles against her underbelly. Purple felt himself press against her sticky, viscous fuzz and cried out when they lurched dangerously and picked up speed once more, a new tunnel quickly shoveling forward as his protective friend used her clawed feelers and spiked feet to shovel impressive buckets of mud and roots to the side and guide them on towards their hopeful salvation.

Ten minutes, and Red had only deteriorated further. He was gaunt and dry, his body completely dehydrated as Flicky finally funneled her way to the surface and broke into the late afternoon light only to hiss at the intrusive rays of radiation blinding her sensitive retinas and forcing her back down into her comforting shadows. She unlatched her cargo and chucked them up into the snow as Purple flailed and lost his hold on Red, landing hard on his side with a groan and digging his nails into the frigid ice beneath his hands. He pushed up and coughed, spitting a mixture of Schloripps goo and clay filled soil to the side as he wiped his mouth, blinking in surprised shock when he noticed an old, outdated sign in the distance signaling the presence of a run down building he'd neglected to notice in his earlier flyovers with Lire. He squinted against the glare of the star reflecting back off the pillowy embankments and scrambled his way to where Red had landed, patting him lightly on the face and finally making out a tiny fraction of what the Callnowian dialect read. _Hostel_. What was that? He quickly searched his PAK for any information, landing on something intriguing and pulling it up in his ocular lenses to read over the tidbits of factoids he was able to dig free, gasping in excitement when he realized it was a communal resting site for passers through.

"Flicky, you're a genius! You _genius_!" Purple cried out, bounding back through the cold and leaning over the hole to beam down at the shuddering mess of goop and plant material staring up from below and keeping to the gloom. "You can read too?! Damn, I'm so happy we met you! Now, there's one more thing I need you to do for me before you hang close and wait for night to fall. I need you to…let's see…" He dug through his PAK, plucking free a used candy bar wrapper and molding the tin to cup gingerly in this hand. "I need you to spit in this. It's gross, I know, but I need a less concentrated form of your venom to inject into my friend's equipment like a vaccine. Can you do that for me?"

Flicky took a minute to process his words but eventually chirped in aggrievance, shooting her snaking proboscis forward and letting loose a thick torrent of hot, sticky saliva over Purple's form and coating him down to his toes as he held his breath and squeezed his eyes shut in shock to the repulsive feeling of regurgitated Schloripps acid oozing down his spine and soaking through every inch of his once pristine clothing. When she finished with an excited, ecstatic peep, he pulled away and wiped his eyelids of the blinding mess with a sputtering cough, trying to remain thankful when he noticed she had filled the tin regardless, flashing her a cheesy smile.

"Thanks…I guess. Now hang out here until I come and get you, alright? I'm going to try and get Red some help. Do you understand?" He waited until Flicky responded before crossing back to where his rapidly deteriorating comrade lay against the frigid ground, reaching for his wrist and heaving him on with all his might as she retreated back into her tunnel network. "Let's hope this works."

* * *

It didn't take long for Purple to reach the sign and eventually the stoop of the hostel, groaning and sighing dangerously under the razed weight of his friend threatening every inch he crept along to drag him down and nullify his tooth-gritting efforts to not spill what his friend had gifted him. Finally, he made his way to the rusted steel of the hatch, slogging it open and poking inside to ensure no one was watching before quickly tugging Red along past the clear front desk and towards the first room he was able to spot. It wasn't impressive in the slightest; a single yellowed mattress that had undoubtedly seen better days and a meager nightstand in the far corner. A tiny wood burning stove was set ablaze and crackling against the nearest wall, soot and ash spewing against the grimy floor and forcing Purple to curl his lip in disgust. At least they would be warm and at least he had a viable heat source. He poked further into the room, noticing that there was an offshoot, most likely a bromine shower and a tiny kitchenette. Jackpot!

"Ti sep! (Hello!)"

Purple spun around with a cry of panic when the sound of rural Callnowian flooded his senses, letting go of his friend's wrist and slamming him behind the door to hide what looked like the scene of a murder as the owner of the hostel moved forward with a warm, genial smile and extended a hand in greeting, shrinking back in repulsed disgust when he realized Purple had been through the ringer and was caked head to toe in dust and saliva.

"Ah! Ti sep, mu sal! (Ah! Hello, my friend!)" Purple sang back in disjointed fluidity, unsure of how to tell the hunched man and five kind eyes that he was going to be staying the night and running through everything he could be remember. "Yel haca…eh…su ven? (I have…eh…this one?)" He pointed to the door and gave the owner a forced smile, trying with all his might not to let Flicky's precious spit dry up in his makeshift container as the man blinked and looked to the number on the door.

Eventually, he realized Purple wasn't going to be able to keep up with his voice, smiling in return and nodding kindheartedly before trudging his way back behind the main desk to dig out a surprisingly futuristic key card, handing it over and letting his beam turn to a fat, excited grin before tapping at a jar of tips perched on the desk with a single claw. Great. He didn't have anything. Purple thought long and hard, blinking when he overlooked something and holding up a forefinger to halt the man from following as he raced back to his new retreat for the night, quickly crossing to the nightstand to set aside the saliva before hastily stooping and plucking the ruby and amethyst tie tack from Red's lapel, tugging it free and bounding back to hold it up for inspection. The Callnowian's five jet black eyes widened to something bug-like with a shocked gasp, reaching out and snatching the precious stones in his grimy claws and holding it towards the light to admire the expensive faceting before blubbering something in stuttering, racing thanks as he teared up and clutched it close to his chest, tearing off towards the back room once more and shouting to a group of workers who in turn began to chatter feverishly amongst themselves. With that, Purple sighed and made his way back to his own temporary room, locking it with the keycard and tossing it over to the mattress before slumping down and breaking down in a round of stressed, overwhelmed tears. This was too much. All of this running, all of this peril…this wasn't what he thought warfare would be when he enlisted in the Elite.

He sniffed into his knees and pushed off the door to grab Red by the lapel, straddling him from above and heaving him on towards the mattress before his strength faltered and fell flat, falling forward and landing at his side to trace his face with his worried, escalating fears. He took his friend by the wrist, checking for his pulse and shooting up in panic when he realized his PAK had gone into mechanized regulation, forcing his spooch to beat even after it had shuddered and failed, alerting him to the lack of time they had. He rolled Red onto his stomach and popped the main casing of his beeping hardware, digging his shaky hands into the tangle of wires within and feeling his own blood pressure spike when his fingertips brushed exactly what he was looking for, tugging free a tiny vial of sedatives hooked to a neurological wire. He unscrewed the cap, dumping the sweet liquid to the floor and letting it hang free in the wind as he raced back to the kitchenette and fumbled through every drawer and cursed under his breath when all he found was a few wooden spoons, a grimy, unclean pan, and a few boxes of instant provisions. A spoon would have to do for now. Purple willed himself to focus, flipping on the plasma burner and scooping up a generous glob of Flicky's precious venom with the ancient looking spoon, holding it over the blazing fire and narrowing his eyes as he watched it bubble with the chemically enhancing coil of convection, bringing the disgusting impurities to the top as he carefully scraped them free with a second spoon to slosh the molten material to the sink. He waited, making sure it was completely pure before springing back to his friend's side and blowing the steam away, pouring the now decontaminated, filtered liquid into his sedative vial and recapping it to burry it deep in his PAK. He gripped at the lip of his hardware and grumbled something long and low to himself, manually helping the cord to pump the whole of the concoction into Red's bloodstream with a pinching massage and firmly securing the casing back over his delicate insides as he laid back down and waited.

Please.

Please, Red, _please_.

Purple held his breath, moving forward and placing an unstable palm against his friend's cheek, instantly pulling back with a sudden screech when he shot up and yelled at the top of his lungs. Red clawed at his face and fought a few moments, blinded by the last memories he'd held of Ipi's terrifying tendrils wrapping around his throat and choking him into submission as Purple flew forward and grabbed frantically for his wrists, pinning them down and sitting atop his chilly chest to force his dangerous claws away from his sensitive, scarred skin.

"Red! R-Red, it's me you idiot!" He struggled, yelping when his friend threw him off and forced him to spill over the edge of the grungy mattress to the unswept floor, groaning and coughing in the dust as his terrified friend came to terms with his surroundings once more and finally laid back down to squeeze at the throbbing headache eating through his skull.

"Fuck….what the hell? Where are we?" He moaned, forcing his eyes closed when the light was too much and weakly working off his sweat-slicked jacket for more comfort. "Why do I feel like I just got hit with a Voot?"

Purple moved back to the kitchenette and kicked his shoes off, tossing the spoon into the sink and quickly rinsing out the pan with warm, comforting bromine before filling it and coming back to sit next to his wholly exhausted friend as he sat up. He helped Red prop himself up with a few pillows and brought the pan to his mouth to silently demand he take a sip, satisfied when he gulped down a few desperate swigs of much needed hydration before letting his head roll back against the wall.

"Damn, that's so good! I would have never thought I'd want bromine more than I do now." He sighed when Purple went to take his own sip, chuckling when it escalated into a frenzied chug as his body begged for consumption. "Woah, slow down a bit before you literally drown yourself."

Purple shot him a look and thrust the pan into his hands, rolling his eyes and tugging off his own disgusting jacket to toss it to the corner. "Ha, ha, very funny. That's the first thing you have to say to me after you literally died? Your PAK was keeping you alive, Red. Ipi injected you with concentrated venom from a Schloripps, and I was able to find Flicky to get us out of the capitol. I'm not sure how far she took us, but the guy who runs this place seems pretty nice and let me have this room for the night." He sighed and turned his back to his friend when he felt his weary gaze sting at him, unbuttoning his shirt and allowing the balmy warmth of the surrounding atmosphere to kiss at his skin. "You'll be sore for a while, but I'm pretty sure you'll be alright."

"Died?! I-I was dead?!" Red cried, raking his hands down his face when he set himself into a panic, grabbing at every part of his body he could think of to ensure everything was still intact before heaving a great exhale of releif. "Holy shit, I don't think I've ever gone into mechanized hibernation before! I-I don't remember anything!"

"Good, because you were disgusting." Purple made an attempt to lighten the air with a tiny, well-placed tease, watching his friend sink down amidst the fuzzy blankets with a pout. "Can you get your shoes off?"

Red glanced down, wiggling his feet and trying to reach but giving up and kicking them free with great effort instead, watching them clatter to the floor and curling up to shiver into the mattress as Purple returned. "Ugh, I feel terrible. I haven't felt this bad since I got that terrible Worker's Sickness back in the Elite. My whole barracks was laid up for literal weeks with it, and we were all achy and drooly and all we could do was eat and rest."

"Oh! I'm so happy you said that because I found some dry ration packs in here when I was looking around for ways to fix your blood content!" Purple piped up, once again leaping back to the kitchenette with renewed excitement to grab for a mesh bag of free candy before chucking it back with an adrenaline-fueled giggle, letting it turn to laughter when Red neglected to catch it and let it slam into the far wall. "You dunce, can't you do anything right?"

Red didn't know what to say, ignoring the insult completely and toying with the notion that Purple had been inside his PAK with his own two hands and had brought him back online with his witty thinking and powerful scientific background. If he hadn't been here…well…

"You saved my life?" Red breathed, shifting over when his friend positioned himself a little close for comfort and reached over his lap to pluck the bag from where it had tumbled inbetween the blanket and the wall. "_You_ saved my life?"

Purple felt his face flush at the disbelieving tone wafting through the ash tainted air, digging out a caramel candy bar and ripping it free from the package as he broke it in half and passed it on to Red. He didn't take it, staring back with a look of sheer, utter bewilderment smeared over his face that was beginning to dig under Purple's skin. "Yeah, of course I saved you. What, did you think I was going to leave you to die?" He stammered lightly, shoving his chocolate in his mouth to keep from having to respond.

He was alive. He was here. Red had lost it all; his ship, his mission, his family, and everything that held any monetary value to him in the explosion. He'd been shamed and slandered by his enemies, beaten to a pulp by a woman twice his size with enough strength to pile drive a tank, and rejected by the man he had fallen for so long ago in the middle of a sparkling cave while a Schloripps raced in the background. Tak, Skoodge, Zim. They were in pieces; slick, garbled messes of flesh and depleted dreams that he couldn't protect only solidified by the strange inability to protect himself in return. Purple had tugged him down from the chilly branches of the tree he'd perilously tumbled through and now he had injected him with a handmade antidote to keep his poor, shaky body from going into a state of comatose shock? Red was worthless, wasn't he? If he couldn't take care of himself, how could he ever expect to take care of Purple when he needed him most?

But that's just it…he did need him.

Purple had said it himself, crying out from where he'd been pinned under the ruthlessly formidable clutches of a Callnowian guard, tears streaking down his flawless cheeks as he let go a torrent of subconscious fears and heartbreaking pleas for him to get up and fight for them. He turned, watching as Purple avoided his stunned silence and munched away on his first bite of sugar in days. He was here…they were both here together.

Do it.

No, Red couldn't do it. Not here, not now. He'd wanted to for so long, he'd tried in the cave and already failed. If he leaned in, he'd get a punch in the stomach for sure. Potent butterflies ripped up through his spooch as he licked his chapped lips and set the candy bar to the side, scooting in a bit closer and careful with his advances as he gauged his friend's reactions.

Do it.

Purple finally turned with a frown, locking onto his telltale gaze and freezing as he glanced to the side in nervous uncertainty when Red took the provisions back gently from his hands and set it down between them, stabilizing himself against the pillow and reaching out to place a warm, knowing hand on his bare shoulder. He traced down to his collarbone, stopping to map out tiny constellations with his freckles, letting a tiny, apprehensive laugh reverberate between their escalating breathing and going blind to the rest of the world when Purple reached up and grabbed at his wrist to stop him. He pushed him back with a swallow but hung on, squeezing his eyes shut and opening up an internal conflict with himself when he allowed their fingers to tenderly entwine and come together as one.

Do it.

The feeling of Red so close yet so far, the pounding of his pulse beneath his fingertips, the scent of his now almost completely faded cologne clinging to his skin…all of it. All of it. He didn't know what he meant as the phrase played like a record in his thoughts, digging into his soul and drawing out every last shard of black hatred jabbed into his cognition by cycles upon cycles of abuse. He felt them fading but still so obviously there, reminders of scars unseen as he whimpered and ventured a bit of bravery he would have never foreseen, bringing his friend's now quaking fingertips to the side of his jawline and opening his mouth to speak but finding his voice completely stolen by the strangeness of their shared intimacy. Red didn't move, staying back as Purple burst into another round of tears and folded forward, smacking his hand away and instead going for a deep embrace that pinned him down into the bed as hot rivulets of wounded, pent up anxieties and trauma came flooding out over his undershirt to stain the once lavish silk. Red didn't know what to do, almost positive that he had been raring for a kiss and reeling when Purple clung to his sides for support and dug his aching claws into his ribcage as he sputtered and writhed in a drowning pool of bottomless emotional pain to the past he couldn't ever escape.

"It hurts! I-I'm so sorry, I wanted too but…but….Dammit! I know you want to kiss me, Red, but I can't! I-I'm to afraid of getting into something else I can't break a-away from and it terrifies me to cross that line with you!" He bawled into his neck, shuddering closer and choking on his own terror as Red wrapped his arms down snuggly around his waist for support. "Y-You should find someone else who will be able to g-give you what you want! I'm so messed up and afraid that I don't know if I can ever..n-no I already see you as something special. I see you as someone who I could…I dunno…have a future with? M-Maybe?! Fuck, I just don't know and I'm not even sure what I don't know anymore anyway and it's all so confusing inside my head! I-I just want it to stop!"

He wanted this too? Red scrambled to latch on to something eloquent to say, to find something in the deep recesses of his mind that would pacify the agony and siphon away the hurt from his…was he even allowed to call Purple his friend at this point? They had been dancing around each other for some time, exchanging tiny glances and pent up emotions that hinted at something more and squeezed both of them together into a waltz unlike anything Red had ever tangoed with. Purple was complicated, strange, and so unbelievably worthy of affection that it wasn't even funny, knowing that once he was able to heal from his terror that he could open up and finally realize that he could become the man he was destined to be. Maybe they could become that together.

"I…I can't take away what happened to you, Pur." He began tentatively, brushing a hot, unsure palm up over his quivering antennae as he clutched at his shirt. "But I can tell you this. I…I-I…I feel something for you. You're so passionate about everything you do, more handsome than anyone I've ever met, and you have a mind of your own that blows me away every time you decide to use it." He snickered a bit, smiling when Purple tried to chuckle through his horror but only slipped back into his own watery depression. "What I'm trying to say is, if you're not ready for this, then I will never, _ever_, make you do anything you don't want to do. I won't ever touch you, I won't ever kiss you, and I won't ever hit you again. You deserve so much more and…I'm ready to wait for you."

"Wait? Y-You'd wait for me?" Purple couldn't believe what he was hearing, staring up in a dumbfounded stupor and faltering when Red slipped down and tugged a blanket over them both to rest in the crook of his arm with a faint, sincere nod. "You would really…I mean…what?"

"What do you mean, what? I like you and that's all there is to it." Red couldn't believe he was saying this out loud, everything simmering and boiling within him for over six months finally coming to a head. "I don't know where this is going or where we'll end up but…um…I'd like to give it a shot."

"You mean you like me too?!" Purple blurted out without thinking, clamping a terrified hand over his mouth as Red blinked in surprise and instantly flew into a fit of untamed, raw laughter and the look of utter, appalled mistrust on his friend's face.

"_Too_? So you have thought about this a little bit, huh?"

"N-No! It's not like that! I just-"

"Come on, it's ok if you have feelings for me! Even if they're only budding flowers in that crazy mind of yours, I'm sure they'll bloom into something beautiful."

Purple gave a fake gag and rolled over to hide the ridiculous smile peaking through his teary cognition, letting his eyes flutter shut when Red ran a tentative hand the length of his arm and settled at his waist to draw them in close to share precious body heat. This felt right. This felt so…so right. His breathing was even and tame, his hands didn't linger or take, and his voice was compassionate and true. There was no stealing of places that should never be forced into the open, no angry words combined with the smash of bloodletting fists, and no early mornings getting sick over the sink at the thought of having to do it all over again.

Purple was safe.

Here, in the glorious present with a glorious person he never thought he'd meet, he was completely safe.

"So, what do you say?" Red breathed against his neck, drifting off a bit and hugging him tighter around the waist, tracing his ribcage with a gentle hand and sighing when Purple reached back to prod inquisitively at the side of his face. "Am I allowed to wait for you?"

Do it.

Purple didn't respond, spinning in Red's hold when something deep and achy overtook him, setting alight every instinct to run and snuffing them out in the same breath as he snuck his arms up around his shoulders and drew him in without thinking to gingerly capture his lips in a mind-numbing, ethereally cosmic display of healing and heavenly grace descending upon them both. He stared forward, watching as Red's eyes fluttered shut and melted into the contact he'd never anticipated in a thousand long, precious cycles, moving like butter against him for a few moments longer as Purple found himself without the need to rationalize for once. Compassion. Tranquility. Respect. Protection. Was this what it was supposed to feel like to have someone devote their life to you? Was his first true, inhibited kiss supposed to be so warm and tingly? Was his skull supposed to buzz with a lack of questions and an overabundance of something gorgeously radiant he couldn't pin down? Yes. Yes…this was it. This was everything.

In this moment there were no more pained tears.

In this moment there was no more sweltering agony.

As Red pulled away with a tiny giggle and brought their antennae together, pressing his forehead to his partner's as he purred and smeared another tiny, affectionate kiss to his cheek, Purple finally understood what peace was supposed to be. The trauma faded into the background as his partner laughed through his nerves and smiled back with a flushed, beloved look of unbridled adoration that had Purple wanting to burst into rapturous song to the unfettered beauty of his voice and the all-enshrouding security of his war torn hands smoothing exquisite circles into his back. He nuzzled back in, unsure of what to say when the words wouldn't come but knowing Red got the point when he rested his chin between his antennae and allowed him to linger against his skin and find serenity in a place so hideously destroyed by violence.

For now, there was just pure, untainted, unsolid peace.

There was just peace.

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AWESOME! OUR BOYS HAVE FINALLY CONNECTED AFTER 15 CHAPTERS OF FLIRTING AND DANCING AROUND EACH OTHER! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I love you all! See you soon!

**Next Update: Wednesday, March 18, 2020 at 10:00 PM CDT (UTC -5)! See you then!**


	16. Get a Grip

Welcome back! Welcome back! I'm so happy to have you guys here with me today! I also have a special announcement concerning updates! This week, since I'm LITERALLY QUARENTINED FOR 2 WEEKS BECAUSE MY FATHER GOT CORONA AND HE'S AT MY HOUSE, I will be posting twice! One today (Wednesday March 18, 2020) and another on Saturday (March 21, 2020)! I will include the specific update times at the end of the chapter!

**To our reviewer ****XxDNSxx:** Yes! I think I understand what you mean with Red's thoughts benefiting the story. I haven't written much about his internal workings or the literal labyrinth of a mind this man seems to have while writing him, but he's a very contradictory person in this AU. This entire chapter is dedicated to Red working through and really delving deep into things he's suppressed. When I write, I don't go off of a real plan or know how things are going to end, but rather let the characters write themselves, as a lot of writers I've seen tend to do, and Red has been so fascinating to me. He often contradicts himself on purpose for a sort of self-protection measure to not get too deeply invested in things when he really is in actuality, and I have to make a flow chart of the things he says and plans because I also feel like his character is a bit of a habitual doubter and sort of goes off the wall and does his own thing on a whim. Unlike Purple, who canonically I think is more of the flighty of the pair, who in this AU likes to sit down to think about things from a logical perspective to the point that he's almost brooding about them and letting them consume him. I feel like once they come into their own and grow, because they're quite young at about 220 something if I remember, they'll be able to balance each other out and maturely work through their issues. Anyway, I won't ramble and I'll let the chapter speak for itself! I hope this is what you were wanting, and I'll try to include more of Red's juicy thoughts in tandem with Purple's! Thank you!

SIDE NOTE: I have no intentions of giving up this fic and I will see it through to the end. I really care about my writing, so you guys don't have to worry about me dropping off or leaving it! :)

**Chapter rated strong T for allusions/mention of PTSD, past mentions of sexual abuse, brief light language, promotion of stealing (don't do this ok?), blatant suggestive themes, and general adult content.**

* * *

This was a…dilemma.

A major dilemma. It shouldn't be, but it definitely was.

Red stared through the darkness, watching as Purple tossed and turned lightly in his sleep before rolling back to face him directly and resting a still soiled palm up on the pillow they had come to share. Beautiful. Did he despise that word after it had been thrown back in his face like a sharp bladed weapon for over two grueling cycles of selective onlookers staring back at him and admiring him like a pet? Maybe. Would he hate it if Red decided to call him that, or would it finally hold a weighted meaning once more? What if he smoothed over his apple cheeks in the morning with a tender thumb as he counted each and every one of the tiny stars in his faint dusting of freckles and opened his mouth to sing it out;

_You're beautiful, Purple._

Nah, he was more than just beautiful; he was _handsome_. Everything from his angular jawline taking a gentle curve up into his rounded cheeks stained vibrant hues as he embarrassedly pulled away and clamped a furious hand over Red's mouth to keep him from coming back in for a second kiss only hours ago. His lips were softer than silk and sweet as hell even when chapped, setting Red's spooch alight with a need to protect him from the outside world and keep him held back from the harrowing dangers of their destroyed mission. They'd laughed a bit when his surprisingly innocent inexperience was met with Red's cycles of experimentation and moving against strange men in alleyways to the boom of foreign music inside the clubs they would mosey their way into, reassuring one another that it wasn't a mistake and that the affection was most definitely wanted and reciprocated no matter how absolutely humiliated Purple felt in the moment. Did he enjoy it? Did he think Red was a good kisser or did he kiss like a Hogulus? Irk, was his breath ok? Red ran a hand up over the gently heaving shoulder of his serenely sleeping friend and tested the faint smell of his pre-morning breath, blinking with a frown and shaking the thought away, not that it mattered in hindsight anyway. How had he come to ever deserve to be in the presence of someone so prestigious and radiantly gorgeous, to connect with him in such a way that they both had and find that he wanted that blisteringly novel feeling in return? Even now, when he was smothered in dry Schloripps goo with mud, Purple was a cloudy dream of a man cast abreeze in his direction and fluttering through his every thought to be caught in his gale force winds and drift away together.

Ah…but that couldn't be, could it?

Underneath the feeling of rocketing towards cloud nine with no return, with every flip of his stomach and butterfly that hitched in his spooch when Purple would snore faintly in his direction, Red remembered something he didn't want to. Something lingering always in the back of his mind that everyone should have seen but he had somehow kept hidden in his need to be calculating and cold in his plans. Ipi herself had cackled over his plot in the heat of their fight, singing out the truth that Purple still hadn't come to terms with but Red depressively understood was fact;

He needed to be Tallest.

This was conflicting, wasn't it? He flicked his long antennae forward and scented at the side of Purple's slumbering face, drinking in each and every tiny noise rumbling up the back of his throat and swirling into the night air as Flicky heaved and snored obliviously underneath the window of their grimy hostel outside. They were both so clueless to the horrors of the world despite feeling their sting in the worst of ways, never once delving beneath the surface to question the true motives of the Universe battering them like a choppy, violent sea. But Red, oh Red…he'd looked into every nook and cranny of Del's life, his personal anguishes and terrors, and everything down to the most minute fraction of his daily schedule. He knew what he ate, what he breathed, what oils he rubbed on his body at night as he reclined in the comforting heat of his bromine bath. He was everything wrong with this world, and he needed to perish in order to bring peace and prosperity to Irk once more.

Del had forever complicated things and gotten under Red's skin to foil his plans for domination he kept enshrouded from the prying antennae of others chittering around him and gossiping about the latest fashions and fake news he had no interest in. Politics had consistently taken the forefront of his mind, driving him to undergo extensive training in the Academy in the ways of political science and analytical warfare so he could one day stand tall and proud and serve the Empire he loved in the pit of his spooch in the ways he knew best. Unfortunately, that plan had fallen through when his evaluations came back in single digits, grade after grade slipping through his fingers no matter how hard he studied and pushed himself to be great. He had to prove to himself that he wasn't sub-par, that he wasn't what the rest of the planet called him and his DNA relatives from the lowest class, poorest Smeetery in the region; fleas.

Fleas.

Ipi had used it and smothered him with it from the beginning, reminding him on the daily when he was called to marry Sen for his looks alone after forging his documents upon his expulsion from the Academy.

_Fleas belong with fleas._

Before the Flesh Treaty, Red had no other options other than to pay off a black market seller in a corner booth tucked away from the rest of society to create an immaculately pristine record of his false achievements and graduation so he would be admitted as a foot soldier into the Elite, giving him a chance to pull himself from the dust of pathetic homelessness and choke down his own irreparably wounded pride to serve in one way or another. If he couldn't serve through politics as an advisor to his Tallest that he once looked up to with wide, curious eyes, then he had decided he would undoubtedly serve with blood and spill gushing buckets of the vivid pink liquid into the snow of dastardly Callnowia. He'd been shipped off in the summer, taking deep, languid breaths as his troop deployed from a whizzing Shuuver above the harsh landscape, the crisp snow hitting the soles of his scuffed boots as he was forced to wade through line after line of screaming agony and flesh melting from bone when searing hot plasma was forced against sensitive tendons. He'd lost friends, colleagues, bunk mates, and watched hundreds of Callnowian soldiers choke on their own ashen, gurgling blood as they dropped their weapons and fell to their knees. He'd made it through unscathed and shell-shocked, a shaking visage of the excited tenor he once was reduced to rubble by the toiling terrors and missing glamor of war he'd seen painted in flashing colors over monitors and painted upon courageous recruitment posters. It was at that moment, when he was discharged and brought back to the capitol city of Veloria for the evaluations of Del's hideous Flesh Treaty that he really began to question his Tallest's shady, snake-like motives.

It was the same for the thousands that had been lost to Ipi's bloodletting; stand before the camera and smile before you strip your clothes and fold them neatly to the side, splay yourself, and move on for IQ evaluations from the Control Brains as your PAK was pried open by the dutiful hands of a stout advisor and probed for defects. None of them were told why they had been taken from their everyday occupations, or where they were expected to end up in the heat of the confusion, but each and every one of the tentatively apprehensive violet-eyed citizens was subjected to rigorous questioning by their almighty leaders. Profound, skin-crawling gazes bared down like lead weights against the shoulders of all those present, but when Red was paraded naked onto the magenta stage of his forefather's surviving technological behemoths, he stood tall in the face of adversity and took the brunt of their obnoxiously snide requests.

Turn to the right. Turn to the left. Preen your antennae. Sit. Sit cross-legged. Do you have any scarring? If so where? Have you ever engaged in sexual activity? If so with whom and how long ago? Are you married? What is your occupation? Did you graduate the Academy? With what commendations?

He answered each and every question with vigor, wavering a bit when the Control Brains rooted through his hardware and found that he had ruthlessly lied about his entire existence as a cadet in the Elite, pulling back their snaking, writhing cables and scolding him with booming authority until his antennae had flattened and he hated everything the government was. They had told him he should have remained homeless, that he should have been the victim of a swift death to rid his measly, seemingly pathetic IQ from the public before he harmed someone with his own harrowing stupidity and inability to function in the general vicinity of others. No, this wasn't true. Red had an amazing ability to communicate and power a plasma rifle as he raked through the enemy and destroyed everything they ever loved with his violence before standing resolute and strong through the pools of half melted ice and searing hot, blistering blood leaking away at his boots. His Tallest, Del, had strode forward through the snickering belittling of the fundamentals of Red's intelligence and up onto the main stage to place a gentle hand against his bony shoulder and flash him a kindhearted smile. He had dug his long, claw-tipped fingers into his collarbone and sighed as the Control Brain's fervent chuckling died away to hear what their favorite Tallest of the century was about to say to something so insignificant and wretched, picking up their spiteful laughter when Del opened his sharp teeth and spoke what Red had come to know as the truth.

_It's not your fault that you didn't know forging was wrong. Stupid is as stupid does, my boy._

Del must die. Del became the apple of Red's eye as he stared back and felt his fingers twitch aimlessly to ball into fists around the lithe, thin neck of the man who had started this whole mess in the first place. If Del hadn't upped the standards for Academy graduates, he would have passed his final examination and entered into politics. If Del hadn't pulled him off of the front lines, he would have died a hero and no one would have ever known the dark secrets of disturbing homelessness and terrifying black market creeping lingering in his PAK. Del was the problem, stepping on each and every Irken he saw as less than or tiny in the mind purely because some couldn't afford to pursue the Academy, and others couldn't keep up with the bodily torture of the weekly evaluations. If the Control Brains only viewed him as brute strength, then so be it. Red would stand before them once more as a resilient man unlike anything they had ever seen, letting every unfortunate spurt of gooey bad luck roll off of him like singeing bromine and he didn't care how he got back to this stage.

Bloodshed. There would need to be bloodshed.

Political turmoil. Anarchy. Rebellion.

He would pave the way for a revolution and be the hammer of truth that cascaded down against the fragile glass of Del's well-fed, bourgeoisie as the proletariat stomped with thick leather boots over the Irken flag and planted one of their own in bright, blindingly vivid crimson for their new Tallest. Unfortunately, once that happened, Red knew there would be a gap in the system that would create a devastating political backlash and void unlike anything Irk had ever seen or experienced before and, as much as he hated to admit, even if he was pegged to be the next leader of them all, Purple wasn't ready to deal with that in his fragile state. He needed to cope and recover from the physical torture he'd taken into his flawless body and pacify his own demons before taking on the demons of his entire, collective, people, leaving him venerable for assassination in the event that his once glossy claws touched the command chair of the illustrious Massive and headed something so disgustingly heavy and vicious. He was delicate to the touch, like a gorgeous insect unfurling two glassy wings that needed to be nurtured and tended to as if he were the rarest beast in the whole of the unforgiving Universe, cast free in the Green Nebula to live out his days swimming in the serenity he deserved. Red had never been to the Green, but he'd heard stories of it in his time wandering with Tak and his family off of Moo-Ping 10. Apparently a team of scientists had defected from Irk altogether to create their own peace loving society for anyone intellectual enough to aid their cause of finding the ultimate cure to any disease, giving them an edge over any other planet or people as they mixed the very chemical concoctions lingering in the nebula's cloudy innards with their own research, already finding ways to combat even the most severe diseases on Vort and reaching an agreement with the peaceable Vortian King, Pol Krin III, to provide homemade medicine in exchange for food they couldn't grow at their station.

Red tugged lightly away from Purple's slumbering hold and placed his cool hands over his eyes when he felt a headache coming on, all of his thoughts racing and swirling together to form something noxious he didn't want to think about. He could usually swallow down the worry like a dry pill, but this time, now that he had time to rest, he was unable to escape the inevitable. He and Purple would have to part ways in the near future, and it was breaking his cognition into millions of jagged, indistinguishable pieces. He was no good for Purple and he never would be, and he knew that, but still he too had fallen to the temptation of the silent siren's song pouring off of his lips with every word he spoke and step he took. He was descendant of the first Tallest and her perfect DNA pumping into the bloodstream of every Irken hatched in the Veloria Smeetery, a man rarer than diamonds and gold and prized for his eyecolor above anything else, hitching into Red's soul with his wiry fingers and drawing out every inch of blackened hatred festering there like a pus filled sack of malice and desperation. It was what it was, and he had told himself from the beginning of his mission to recover Purple from Del's personal cabinet on the Massive not to get involved, Tak fervently reminding him on late night loops to get in and get out without succumbing to the temptations they both knew lingered beneath the surface.

He couldn't help himself.

Tak was right. She would be so disappointed if she could see him now.

Red couldn't sleep. He needed some space and some time to think without trailing Purple's perfect face with his thoughtful gaze or licking his lips at the thought of being granted access to his once more in the future. They were two different people, a flea and a hound, and Red would only become the itch between his antennae as time went on. He was always the itch. He gingerly slipped free from the mattress and stood as silently as he could as Purple's arms fell limp at his sides, thankful that the floor didn't creek as he padded lightly under the rafters towards the outdated bromine shower in the back room. It was tiny and generally unclean, a thin layer of grime coating the far wall and drawing a disgusted sneer from Red's lips as he tentatively peeled off his undershirt, working against the pearlescent buttons his partner…friend…Purple had toyed with earlier in his mounting nervousness towards their first, blinding kiss. He still couldn't believe it had happened the way it had, leaving his mind reeling more than it usually did and forcing him to consciously remain upright to refrain from swooning in a lovesick mess of liquid admiration, struggling with the shower a few moments before yelping when an icy blast of bromine smacked him in his razed shoulder. He hastily clamped a hand over his mouth and peeked out of the doorless hatch, watching with mounting apprehension as Purple rolled over in his sleep and reached for him, grabbing at the pillow instead and scrunching it up into his tender hold before spreading out like melted butter once more. Ok, that was a close one. He deserved to sleep for once in the past several days, giving Red a chance to collect himself and get clean before his partner….ugh…._Purple_ woke up and decided that being coated in Flicky's dried saliva wasn't a good look.

Red let the bromine heat to something deliciously warm and balmy, working off his dress pants and dropping them around his ankles before finally partaking in the single most scrumptious, beautiful sensation he'd felt since their kiss, purring up into the heat splashing over his cheeks in waves and pacifying his internal struggle for a few moments in favor of a few shudders skipping down his vertebra. Oh, yes. That's where it's at, man. After a few moments more, Red glanced around for anything he could use as a cleanser, blinking when all he was met with was a questionable loofa with a few stray Callnowian scales stuck within the mesh and a bottle of something grey and sticky he didn't recognize the smell of, turning him off to the idea of soap completely as he scrubbed his scarred skin down with his hands. Wow, when it was put in perspective, under the flush of a gentle heated stream, his scars were pretty prominent against his now heat flushed complexion. He'd done most of them himself, dragging knives and plasma torches over his arms and legs in the back room of the same Vortian doctor who had chemically changed his once perfect eye color to something much more common and aggressive to the senses, digging into himself as he gritted his teeth and cried through the agony. Did he have a choice? Ipi and Sen wouldn't recognize him, or so he had thought at the time, if he was destroyed on a physical level, obliterating the only reason they chose him and taking back what little control he had been given in this world despite everything he knew. He was a broken man in the PAK and in the flesh, but he didn't really mind. Maybe? He wasn't sure at this point, running his fingers over every long, spite-filled gash and healed burn with a disturbing numbness hitching in his spooch and drawing him away from the memories of self-inflicted torture under the searing medical light and beady stare of a stout, half blind Vortian he wasn't even sure he could trust. Wow…maybe he really _was_ stupid.

Red quickly finished his shower and stepped free, thankful that the towels in the rack to the side of the sink had at least been washed at some point before burying his face in the deep blue fluff of Plookesian cotton. Did Purple think he was beautiful? He'd caught sight of him when he was dressing himself and stolen his breath away with his obviously curious gape before Red shrouded himself and forced a smile in his embarrassment. He'd played it off as something calm and collected for the sake of his discomfited friend, but he was genuinely curious to know why he wanted to see him in the first place. The only individuals that had ever seen his new form were Tak and Skoodge on the off chance that he accidentally caught him stepping out of the bath, but the idea of his love interest staring him down and running his scrupulous stare over every bit of hatred and self-loathing Red had inflicted upon himself for his own protection made his skin crawl and writhe. Purple didn't mean anything by it, and Red knew that, but it was still…odd.

Odd.

What were they?

Were they friends? Friends with benefits? Boyfriends?

Boyfriends…?

Red hastily dried himself off and slung the towel over the edge of the sink with a tiny smirk, irritated that he couldn't stop it and glancing back once more as he worked his filthy clothing back on. Purple had fervently denied him a second kiss after the bravery he'd taken for the first, refusing to meet his friend's gaze as he held him close and kept him pressed gently to his chest as he curled into his welcome body heat, grumbling a bit to himself but never once pulling away. Geez, the guy was a total enigma, wasn't he? Red could never tell what he wanted or what he didn't, choosing to remain on the safe side of things and respect his needed boundaries until Purple made the first move and grazed his hands over his back and up to rest on his shoulders, teasing innocently at the back of his neck with curious fingers that quickly became stiff when the recollections of trauma surrounding every touch he was forced to give came crashing back down upon him from above. It was almost as if Purple couldn't break through a barrier of sorts, finding himself completely at the mercy of his past and somehow giving over a tiny sliver of that to Red's authoritative, capable hands. It wasn't his fault, and he meant every word of when he said he would wait until he was ready to determine exactly what they were, or where they were going with one another…if anywhere. After all, Purple was going to be admitted into the Green for his bright burning intelligence, and Red would be left behind to remember him only from the light, lingering trace of his sweet natural scent clinging to his clothes.

Geez, why did he trust someone who stole for a living?

Why did he trust someone who was vying for his position as Tallest?

Why did he trust Red at _all_?

"Red?"

Red jolted when two gentle hands snuck over his shoulders from behind, tracing the length of his long plasma shot etched over his scapula like braille inching into the past, spinning and freezing when he was met with the confused, bewildered stare of the man who had just been dancing through his thoughts. Purple still looked deeply tired and ragged, almost as if he had been drug through the mud…wait. They were drug through the mud by Flicky and her creepy instincts to burrow. He'd lost a considerable amount of weight in the past few days from stress and the demand of the physical eating away at what little bodyfat he was allowed to have under Lire's domineering gaze and controlled portions, leaving him a skeleton of what he once was as he moved to the sink and turned it on to wash at his grubby face. Red felt a twinge of panic hit him as he pulled on his clothes, flinching at how absolutely disgusting they felt against his clean skin and feeling his innate need to protect overtake his wandering thoughts. Purple needed to eat, and he needed to eat now. The rations that they had in place would suffice for the night, but would do little in the long run if Red couldn't get a decent meal in his war-torn body sooner rather than later.

Think.

Red nodded to himself as Purple continued to preen himself in the mirror, unable to really speak in his own half-lucid state of groggy cognition as he rubbed at the plaque buildup on his teeth with a claw, grumbling long and low when he felt dastardly unclean.

"Take a shower, Pur. You smell gross, and the bromine actually feels pretty nice." Red suggested, leaning against the lip of the sink and watching him with mounting concern when he gripped at the edge of the porcelain and admired the long, thin scar blooming over his eye and ruining his perfection. "Treat yourself a bit and get clean, alright?"

"I smell gross?" Purple's voice was hoarse and distant, his obvious exhaustion and lack of nutrition hitting Red where it hurt. "But an hour ago you told me I smelled nice…sorta like home."

Red reached out and placed a hand over his friend's…boyfriend's….Ugh! Whatever they were! "I'm kidding with you, idiot…kind of. You smell nice under all of that nasty spit, and I want to be able to drink in those beautiful pheromones after you're all squeaky clean." He chuckled, trying to make light of the situation when Purple nodded slowly and pulled away to stoically turn on the shower. "Damn, you look like you're coming off of your adrenaline high and crashing. I know what that feels like, and eating something will definitely help with the come down. When you were dragging me here, did you see a town nearby or anything?"

Purple sat down on the lip of the tub, popping the plug and instead deciding to run a soothing bath for a deep, otherworldly relaxing soak. He yawned and thought a moment, dripping an inquisitive finger into the bromine before looking up and meeting Red's concerned expression with a smile. "What are you planning on doing?" He asked simply, giggling a bit when his friend flustered and wrung his hands, snatching his shirt from the floor and hastily buttoning it. "Are you going to go out without me? What kind of guy doesn't take his boyfriend out on the town?"

Boyfriend.

Boyfriend?

_B-boyfriend?!_

"I-I'm your boyfriend?! You really think…y-you really want…after everything…are we _dating_?!" Red blurted out before he could stop himself, choking down a slew of obnoxious, forceful questions he hadn't been expecting when Purple jolted a bit and nearly slipped into the bath fully clothed. "S-Sorry! N-No, it's fine! What's fine? What's happening? S-Shit, I'm sorry!"

Purple quickly stood when Red went to leave, embarrassed about his tongue's lack of grace and his inability to form a coherent sentence as wave after wave of heated confusion washed over him. This was so bad…but this was also so good. He wanted this. He wanted it so terribly, but he also knew that dating Purple would only lead to harrowing, disgusting heartbreak for the both of them in the end when they parted ways at the fork in the road, the same horrid names popping up in his mind. Flea. He was a flea. Purple was an aristocrat, a cadet who graduated as an ingenious microbiologist and a soldier with enough strength to overpower an entire army. He'd read his files, scoured his phantomlike past, and drunk in every single word of his glistening evaluation from the Control Brains. They viewed him as a prodigy and a slew of flawless DNA perfectly stitched together to create someone utterly, fantastically impeccable and unflawed in every way imaginable. Even now, when his hands landed back on Red's shoulders and tenderly spun him to meet his height, a thin scar razed over his seamless, unadulterated eyecolor, he was still unspoiled and the vision of true Irken excellence. Did Red deserve that? Did Purple deserve more? Too many questions…not enough answers.

"Hey, look at me, Red. Please?" His voice was uncomfortable and shaky, any resounding power from their previous encounters with Ipi dissolving to the air and leaving behind the affection starved shell of a man Red was struggling to face. "I said look at me."

Red labored to meet his gaze, snapping up and swallowing thickly when he realized Purple was doing the same, peeling away as soon as crimson touched lavender but taking his hands instead. "Listen, I said I was f-fine with waiting for you so if this is too unsettling or fast, then you don't have to call me your-"

Purple silenced him by holding up a finger, taking a reassuring exhale and leaning back to peek in on the bath and make sure that it wasn't overflowing. "But I…I-I want to call you that because that's what you are." He whispered, his grip tightening. "It's just…well…I've never had a boyfriend and the word is so different for me to say because I never got the chance to call anyone that. That's what you become when you kiss, right? B-Boyfriends?"

Red didn't know what to say, sputtering something inbetween an ecstatic, overly excited 'yes,' and a terrified 'why the hell do you think I'm hot,' rolling the two very conflicting statements together and making Purple far more confused than he was anticipating. He took a moment to collect himself, shifting awkwardly on his feet and exhaling long and low in an attempt to bring himself down from the bewildering, wholly perplexing state of utter euphoria pounding through his bloodstream and making him almost sick to his stomach. Purple, the man he'd stalked for six months and watched from the shadows, the man he'd craved above all others and the dream manifested before him to graze his knuckles with his thumb as he waited patiently for his reply was his boyfriend. They would still need to take things slow, but at least now…at least now they had a start.

Hopefully.

"Ah…s-sorry you just caught me off guard is all!" Red finally piped up with a wide grin, feeling himself melt a bit as his pulse rang in his overstimulated antennae. "Um…y-yeah! I-I'll be your boyfriend!" He giggled anxiously, pulling away when Purple followed suit.

"Really?"

"Yeah!"

"R-Really, really?"

"Eh…yeah?"

"You're sure you want someone like me?"

"Pur, who wouldn't want someone like you?"

Purple quickly smacked his hands over his bright pink face and spoke rapidly through his fingers, his breath escalating before he promptly turned on his heel and rushed off towards the bathroom to shut off the liquid, rust-colored bromine that would become a soothing sanctuary for his delightfully disturbed nerves. "O-Ok! To answer your question, we're already in a town. This place looks like it's at the edge of a rural village or something, and if I'm right about what you're going to do, then there's a store not two hundred feet or so from the hostel." There was a quick silence before his erratic tone wafted forward once more. "I…just don't be gone too long, ok?"

Red nodded with a smile, quickly realizing his partner couldn't see him before vocally calling back. "Yeah, yeah, I'm just gonna go get us some food and maybe some clean clothes if they have them. We need to blend in and find a ship after we eat so we can make it back to Irk and confront Del. Let's face it, Pur, we're not getting anywhere here on Callnowia with Ipi and Sen, and she pointed out to me that Del was her whole world. I'm betting if we can take him out, somehow, then we'll be able to bring Ipi down to her knees and stop this mess from ever happening."

Silence.

"Purple?"

Nothing.

Red playfully rolled his eyes, slipping his feet into his now half-annihilated dress shoes and taking off towards the door. He would need to be quick before daylight crested once more and he was recognized out in the town, giving him an edge in the darkness to do what he did best;

Steal.

* * *

It didn't take long for Red to slip by the vacant front desk of the sub-par hostel they'd managed to stumble upon, creeping past Flicky's gargantuan, slumbering body as she gently hissed and twitched into the snow around her, pressing her gelatinous form up against the windowpane of their room to ensure Purple was kept in good feelers. He trusted her vivacious appetite to ward off any potential intruders, and Purple was keen enough to keep away anyone or thing that could possibly lay a hand on him. Besides, he was right about the store being close by and he'd be able to keep an eye out for anything suspicious.

Red trudged through the snow, resorting to his PAK legs to suspend him above the frozen wasteland and destroy the presence of his footprints that would lead the authorities to their location after he raided the tiny, pathetic excuse for a shop on the outskirts of what seemed to be a pretty, quaint town filled with farmers and children harvesting snowy, frozen vegetables and berries in the cold. The stop itself was rugged and poorly tended with a hatch held closed with a simple chain lock and no perceivable external security systems from what Red could see once he flicked on his ocular lenses. He stopped in his tracks and struggled against the howling wind, squinting and evaluating the store from every angle as he spun the petite layout in his mind's eye and quickly calculated the floorspace based on past experience. It looked to be roughly three hundred or so square feet of aisles packed to the brim with essentials; food rations, sugar, baking supplies, toiletries, and the like. He would need to sneak in the back hatch to avoid being caught by any passersby making their rounds from their usual foottraffic he'd spotted in the embankment, his antennae hard at work as he barreled his way across the final ridge he needed to scale to press against the hideously rusted outer paneling of the titanium convenience store, keeping his face down as he crept along the side and towards the back. His antennae buzzed with excitement at the prospect of stealing once more, every tendon in his body preparing to sprint and spring into deadly action should he be caught by someone who shouldn't have seen him in the first place. He was a predator, a virtuoso of the illegal undermining the system of stuffy rules and regulations he despised and loathed with every single shred of morality in his being, forcing him onwards on silent extensions to extend a long finger through the crack in the hatch and fumble to slide the chain free from the lock. This was for every time he'd felt like he was unworthy, for every time the collective Empires of their bizarre, inirken starsystem decided to throw him a new curveball and stuff him into a box he could never seem to fit. He was the darkness and the light rolled into one, he was the Robin Hood of justice that would rake over every smug face of every despicably nauseating advisor and officer waltzing the Massive as he thought, filling their spooches with opulent sugar and greasy fast foods that he didn't have enough funds to afford without taking.

Taking.

Red was here to take in order to give.

He had to get Purple something to eat so they could get back on track towards the Green. He needed to drop him off and get him out of the mess they'd failed at together before he went after Del to sever his traitorous spine from his unworthy flesh. Blood transfusions and immortality or not, no one could function if they were in two gory halves, right? If he was able to prove to the rest of the Empire that their Tallest had been lying to them and kidnapping thousands upon thousands of innocent souls for use as experimental bloodbags, then maybe they could turn this downward spiral of archaic, sickening thought around and finally make a name for the Irken people. They wouldn't have to rely on Callnowia or bend to the howling wills of a Prime Minister well past her expiration date, no…they would be a formidable force to be reckoned with that would blaze through the Universe and devour everything in it's wake like an overdue disease.

Was he being too fanatical?

Red thought a few seconds, forgetting his maniacal ramblings and popping free the hatch as it creaked open with the brutal winds, crashing against a nearby shelf as he skittered forward in a panic and wrangled against nature to shut it once more. Freezing flakes of hydrogen slammed back against his raw face as he scrambled for the latch, throwing it in place and slumping forward to rest his forehead against the frigid metal. Irk, so much for a quiet entry. Dammit. Maybe he'd lost a bit of his touch as a thief after the grueling six month's he'd spent in the gravity controlled prison of the Massive, finding himself thrust unexpectedly into the limelight as a pretentious, snobbish officer unlike many others chatting and lazing about around him. If Tak could see him now, she'd laugh in his face and tell him to hang back so she could creep about like the catlike menace she was, slipping free candy bars under the noses of shopkeepers and using her stunning charm and radiant beauty to earn free cans of soup and halves of pity sandwiches. Tak…oh, Tak. Would she truly be disappointed, or would she be happy with how long he'd managed to survive on his own without her? Would she be angry that he had fallen for a man and kept pushing her memory from his mind to protect himself from the gruesome imagery of her last moments? It wasn't fair. He knew it wasn't fair to try and forget everything she was and the lilting sound of her thunderous voice, but he couldn't bring himself to slog out of the numbness he felt towards the collective deaths of Lavender Fire.

He wasn't ready, and he never would be. So, for now, they had become memories stored in the innermost caverns of Red's desolate mind for evaluation when he was someday strong enough to handle what he'd indirectly caused.

He shuddered in repulsed sickness and squeezed his eyes shut, mumbling something under his breath like a mantra to keep himself on track and unhealthily suppress the pain and gruesome displays of leaking blood flooding to the snow as his home burned and crackled under the warping heat of a fire his ex-fiancé had caused. He had to remember that he was here in the future and, even if the past was still fresh and festering, it was just that…the past. He finally let his eyes flutter back open, adjusting to the comforting darkness and taking a cautious step forward when he lowered down from his mechanical extensions and let his night vision take over. There wasn't much here in the ways of monetary value, but the selection of food was mouthwateringly decent, snack cakes and instant lunches dotting surprisingly polished, well-stocked shelves and scattered between bags of crispy, crunchy chips and pretzels. In the back corner was a tiny rounder with a few sundries and a small basket of winter goggles to keep sensitive eyes free from the chipper perpetual winter blazing around them outside. A sudden gust of vicious wind careened against the outside wall, shaking the foundations of the shack as Red explored further, grinning wildly when he noticed someone had left a canvas backpack behind the counter, presumably the owner's, and grabbing for it to dump the meager contents of crumpled receipts and chapstick to the floor. Score! He began shooting down each and every aisle, scooping up handfuls of instant noodles and frozen burritos from the busted freezer in the back before slowing and becoming a bit more selective with his options. Purple seemed like the kind of guy to enjoy sweets and sugary, tooth-rotting nonsense, something he'd observed in his time trailing him from the gloom and urging him to snatch a few packages of fruity hard candies he could suck on in his leisure followed by a few handfuls of colorful, vivid lollipops. Then came the drinks and bottles, a whole two liter of fizzy soda slipped down alongside the rest of his pilfered goods followed by a package of instant, musky tea laden with enough caffeine to keep them both up for days. They'd probably need it in their tandem, stress-induced fugue state until they could find some semblance of true, serene calm, Red snatching a second box for good measure before evaluating what'd he'd stolen so far and taking stock in his mind of anything else they could possibly need. He'd grabbed enough food to sustain them both for just under two weeks if they rationed and eventually ditched Flicky and her sugar cravings. No, they wouldn't need to leave her behind because she could search for her own food underground, something Red decided to take note of before scooting along towards the back to evaluate the pathetic excuse for a clothing section. They both needed to get out of their recognizable attire, something he planned on selling for money later but at the moment they were obviously pinned for slaughter by Ipi and her expensive taste, standing out like wide-eyed prey in the snowy pillows that would be their coffins should they be caught. He ran his hands over the thermal jackets, grumbling when there was one in black and one in bright, horrendously gag worthy pink but snatching them both up for safe keeping just in case along with a package of, thankfully, clean underwear they could share.

After expertly rolling some fuzzy leggings and black woven hats and struggling to stuff them in the overflowing mess he'd concocted, Red moved off to the final aisle of the shop to steal away some creature comforts that would bring back some normalcy to their lives. Two pairs of hiking boots, an aluminum emergency blanket, two plastic toothbrushes and a tube of Callnowian-safe toothpaste, whatever the hell _that_ meant, and a slew of medications designed to treat a variety of illnesses and diseases they could potentially contract this far out in the snow. He sighed, groaning under the weight of the contents digging into his PAK as he reached for a bar of locally made soap, doing a double take when something unexpected caught his eye and freezing in mid grab when a sudden, disastrously unexpected thought took over his youthful instincts. Eh…huh. Why did these have to show up and why was he thinking so seriously about stealing some?

Condoms.

Red shoved the soap in the worn mesh side pocket of his new backpack and clicked his teeth a few times, placing his hands on his hips and squinting down to the row of embarrassing, painfully obvious protections he'd neglected to think about for a few key reasons. Number one; _should_ he be thinking about this? Number two; _why_ was he thinking about this? Purple would surely want him to be…nah. He'd been through so much sexually that Red didn't want to push his luck by making an advance that was received negatively or tossed him back into a terrifyingly venerable state in which he felt he couldn't escape or be safe. Purple's PTSD was a very sensitive subject that he hadn't talked about but was obviously there, presenting itself when he would withdraw and panic or clamp his hands over Red's mouth to keep him from moving forward. He could see it in his eyes as a deep, guttural, bottomless horror and disturbed unraveling that he couldn't stop no matter how much he claimed he wanted Red to kiss him to begin with and now that Purple wanted to be his boyfriend, things were only going to get more complicated in the best and worst of ways. Red would have to push his patience to the limits and allow him to grow and nurture his own budding feelings on his own terms without scaring him away with quick pecks to the cheek or shuffling far too close for comfort over wherever they would end up sleeping. He was ready, but also aware that this would end.

This would end.

Should he enjoy it as much as possible and quit worrying? Should he?

Red brought a claw to his mouth and chewed incessantly, kneeling down and nearly tumbling back at the weight of his supplies tipping him dangerously on his heels when he grazed over his selection once more with passive, humiliated interest. These were made for Callnowians and none of these brands looked vaguely universal in the slightest. From the look of the shape and texture, Callnowian intimates were strange and coiled, something he hadn't been expecting as he plucked a few from the shelves and compared the differing latex contents and supplemental lubrication before flustering and quickly shoving them back once more to rub his hands over his weary eyes with a mortified groan. Why? Why was he doing this? Was he some kind of sick pervert?! Maybe he was just tired…m-maybe he was just delusional from the lingering Schloripps venom slowly dissolving away in his vascular system. He would never force Purple to engage in anything he didn't want to and was completely content with taking things at a snail's pace for his own excruciatingly important comfort, but part of him kept screaming on a ferocious loop that he needed to be prepared in the event that anything…well…_personal_ came of their time together. Purple was most likely clean, seeing as how his advisor had taken special precautions to keep their one-sided affair under wraps and keep anyone else out of his pants with the threat of death, but Red…Shit.

Red probably wasn't.

He wondered if Ipi saw it in the blood she had taken mere hours before, undoubtedly laughing at the perverse, bizarre filth floating through his system and pegging him as less than what he already perceived himself to be. A pang of dread ran through him when he raced through every PAK memory he had of the multitude of secret partner's he'd payed to relieve his frustrations in the smoke-filled, glittery back rooms of Vortian clubs or the times he'd meet a sub-par Irken man at the bar when Tak would venture off to sleep back at the ship, clueless that her then partner was engaging in risky, desperate wishes for affection and intimacy in dark alleyways. It was shameful, and he had quickly stepped away from that path when one of he stared down at a kindhearted male Irken who'd gotten so drunk he could hardly see straight, realizing he didn't even know this man's name or origin and panicking as he gathered his clothes and scolded himself for becoming so careless with what he thought was only experimentation at the time. Sex was prominent in their culture, but it had never been wholly satisfying to Red's soul…something was always missing. Huh. That was something he and Purple had in common.

He glanced back up between his fingers and stared at his shoes for a long second and battling with himself internally as his mind ricocheted back and forth between his options before grabbing for the least bizarre box he could find and hiding it away in his PAK. He lingered a moment and rubbed at the back of his neck before also taking the inconspicuous, self blood test he would need to test his purity before engaging in any form of intimacy with someone so beautiful, hastily tossing it in his internal compartment before standing and willing the shamed sting in his cheeks to die down and return to a viable color, only intensifying when another thought broke through his misty cognition.

Would it feel good for him? For Purple?

Maybe Red could show him what it felt like to be absolutely safe and venerable in a way that didn't make him an object, but rather a completely equal partner there to have fun and enjoy himself to his fullest. Maybe he would let him worship his body with nourishing kisses and calloused hands muttering silent compliments to the sheer ethereal grace they had never thought they would receive the opportunity to touch. Maybe, just maybe, if it ever happened, the hollow, tear-streaked whimpers that plagued Red's nightmares and his deepest fears would turn to something filled with flushed giggles and pleasure filled sighs as they discovered each other in the security of each other's hold. What would he smell like? Would he secrete mating pheromones that would intoxicate Red beyond his wildest imagination? Would his boyfriend moan his name when he…w-when he…?

Ah…a-ah?!

Red choked on his own tongue and sputtered, going for the door and away from the strange magic lingering in the store and keeping him tethered to such risqué, unwarranted thoughts. Irk, they had just entered a relationship less than an hour ago and he was already cycles down the line towards a future he wasn't even sure they would have?! Get a grip on reality, Red! You're different than the other men who vied after him but you can't let him know that…that you also want to feel him. He'd run. He'd run so far too soon and Red wasn't ready to lose what they'd started quite yet.

He would protect him and love him no matter what they decided to do or not do in the future, and give him a chance to feel normal for once.

* * *

Okie dokie! This chapter is a tiny bit shorter purely because I will be posting a second update, like I said in my notes above at the beginning of the chapter, and I will be updating on;

**Saturday, March 21, 2020 at 10:00 pm CDT (UTC-5)!** Thank you guys and stay safe in these dangerous times! I love you!


	17. Healing Warmth

Welcome back to our second update of the week! I wanted to do this one as a treat since the last chapter was so short, and we'll be reintroducing a character in this one!

**To the lovely guest requesting smut:** I don't want to give anything away, but I will say you MOST DEFINITLY WON'T BE DISSAPOINTED. *wink wink, cough cough.* I think you'll, hopefully, really enjoy what I put together soon!

THIS CHAPTER IS UNBETAED BECAUSE I ONCE AGAIN HAVE LOST MY BETA READER! LOOKING FOR A NEW REALIABLE ONE :)

**Chapter rated strong T for suggestive themes, past mention of PTSD, brief light language, and general adult content. Wanted to give you a small break from the agony but next chapter will be TERRIFYING!**

* * *

Purple slung himself free from the cozy comfort of the bath with a sigh, grabbing at Red's towel and burying his face into the smooth dampness he'd left behind. His pulse was still thumping a mile a minute as he drained away the now stagnant bromine swirling at his ankles, refreshing him and breathing life back into who he once was. He felt…strange. Strange in a sense that he didn't know how to rationalize his own feelings.

What was he thinking?

He kissed Red. Red didn't kiss him. He had leaned over, slung his arms up around his lithe neck and drug him down into a tender embrace to capture him on the mouth and dissipate into the sensation of venerability that had never been so delicious. He felt awful for still feeling so apprehensive and fearful about his now boyfriend's motives, cursing himself under his breath when he ran the fabric up over his antennae and realized how much of a fool he must have looked before Red left to find them provisions. He was only two hundred feet away, if that, but the blizzard outside combined with Flicky's peacefully slumbering girth plastered over the window made it impossible for Purple to see his progress when he exited the cleansing room still dripping to half-dry in front of the fire of the wood stove crackling against the far wall. He gingerly smoothed the towel down on the floor and went to grab the fluffy blanket the two had shared, wrapping his bare shoulders in the first softness he'd felt since his crash over rural Callnowia almost a week before. It really hadn't been that long, but the time that he and Red had spent together battling their ways through the darkest of turmoil was agonizingly soul-shredding, weaving each piece of their fragmented lives together to form something unsure but stronger than he had ever expected in such a short stint. He knew Red felt it too, the nervously enticed look in his bottomless cherry eyes enough to captivate Purple beyond rationality and pacify the beginning fringes of his own concealed trauma, forcing him to curl deeper into the woolen blanket with a tiny frown as he stared into the eddying flow of the formless fire dancing in his retinas. He grabbed for a titanium poker nearby, stoking the blaze and allowing air flow to lift it back up and grant him access to a resurgence of striking heat bleating against his cheeks and reminding him of what little good there truly was in this disturbing world. He couldn't wait to get off this planet and return home.

Home?

Purple carefully set the forked poker aside and rested his chin on his knees, the thought festering and bubbling inside his mind when he realized he didn't have a home to go back to. When he was stripped from Irk to reside upon the Massive until his transfer to Sen, he was instructed to sell off his material belongings and residence to allow him to buy opulent gifts for his eventual beloved, giving him a much needed edge in the materialistic world of Callnowian arranged marriage. At the time, he had gladly complied, excited for a chance to eventually become Tallest of the Empire he had once adored and help end a perceived war that had turned out as nothing more than a mass kidnapping plot to ruin the lives of thousands all for their blood. Oh, how ignorant he had been. So, so ignorant. He couldn't return to Irk anyway, knowing in the back of his still exhausted mind that he and Red would be wanted for treason and plastered over every electronic billboard for their perceived war crimes against the puppet of a public waltzing without a care under Del's malicious antennae. Did their people even know that he and Ipi were married? Did they realize that the war was a complete, nauseating farce? How had anyone not noticed the disappearance of most of the purple-eyed population, or had they been silenced with lethal means? Purple brought his antennae down to his fingertips, toying with the feathered end and rolling it between his claws as he thought long and hard about what connotations this held for his race, an epiphany striking that Del and his cabinet probably had some form of surveillance aimed at each and every Irken citizen to keep them in line. But, if that was true, wouldn't that mean that their malicious Tallest was also keeping an eye on him and Red? Surely, Ipi and her cubed up daughter would report back and relay the details of their failed overthrow and attempt to undermine their ploy to Del himself and Purple could almost see the elder face of the demon that made him terrifyingly weak in the knees calmly thrumming his claws over the lip of his desk as he sorted out their location and destroyed what little privacy they thought they had. Irk, this was terrifying. But, Del also didn't know about Lavender Fire or Red's infiltration of his cabinet as a faux General in the past, so maybe he _didn't_ have eyes and antennae on everyone.

And then there was what Ipi had said before he was able to flee; she was creating an army. What the hell did she mean by that? Had she used the five thousand missing Irkens she and her pathetic excuse for a husband had stolen away from their homes and occupations to bleed dry to nothing more than withered husks of who they once were all to inject her own people with the liquid lifeforce of the innocent? She had claimed to be invincible, with skin as hard as diamond and nails as sharp as stone, and it definitely showed when she had engaged in ruthless combat with Red and hadn't broken like a twig in her old age. She had modified herself beyond belief, and Del had probably done the same…maybe. Something still wasn't right biologically when Purple looked back to what had happened with Lire. His advisor was born with sickly green eyes, a rarity in their population and also prized by the Control Brains for the strange connection the color had to the fundamentals of intelligence that it granted the host. Lire had seemed to have a different reaction than Ipi, turning to dust and crumbling when he was stabbed through the spooch during Red's protective killing spree and dying in cold blood when his PAK was ripped from his nervous system by Zim. Maybe the mixture wasn't as stable as the Callnowian Empire led it on to be? Ipi had also mentioned his own purity and the presence of antigens floating in Red's blood that made him something of a mutt to her, rudely labelling him as nothing more than a flea and laughing in his face. Ugh, this was all so confusing and unseemly. He didn't like the idea of Ipi constructing an invincible army, but it did seem like they were still cycles away from creating a viable dosage that would be able to hatch the same results.

Maybe Purple's internalized paranoia was getting to him.

Yeah, that was it.

He needed to relax for once before he made himself ill with worry, laying on his side when the pangs of vicious hunger struck once more and rippled through his body like a knife, forcing him to squeeze his tired eyes shut with a sigh. Red was out in the frigid snow by himself and the thought of him getting caught wasn't making anything better, spiking his anxiety through the roof and only confusing him further about what he felt towards his…well…his _boyfriend_. Purple had always thought men were attractive and adorable in their own ways, the ruggedness of the male physique drawing him in over the soft curves and svelte attitudes women typically portrayed to fit in with what society willed them to be. Men were so different and intensely fun, throwing hands over the dumbest of issues and clouting one another for the status of maintaining a violent winning streak, the competition catching him off guard in the best of ways and making him swoon into the feeling of protective dominance. He was part of that once, sparring on impulse with his colleagues and bunk mates in the Elite when they would call him out for tiny things that annoyed them or just because, openly swinging and pinning opponents against walls in good natured fun as they snarled back and let it turn into laughing hilarity. In a way, he and Red had already been doing that with words the entire time they'd come together, fighting with little, well-placed jabs and spiteful glances while overcoming their distances and falling deeper and deeper into what they had now. It was sensual and loving, doing things to Purple's delicate senses that he hadn't been expecting and filling him up with a sizzling warmth he'd never felt and didn't quite know how to describe to himself. He was so painfully nervous and riddled with apprehension for their future every time Red had spoken to him since their blisteringly life-changing first kiss, but he couldn't help himself from replaying the scene in his mind on a repeated, longing loop. He wanted to do it again, to run away with Red and forget the Irken Empire altogether to take him to the Green and dance through the amorphous waver of vaporous peace fluttering around their ankles and drawing them forward into the tranquil unknown together.

Together.

Did he truly want to be with Red? They'd only just come together in a deeper way, connecting as gentle, understanding palms trailed along bare collarbones and freckled cheeks to smooth away the dripping gloom trapped beneath their skin and holding them prisoner to their own misunderstanding and depressive pasts. It was so bizarre, as if the painful recollections wouldn't come when Red touched him, lighting him up like a ray of hot plasma and showing him the inner core of who he could be if only he could crest the ridge of his adopted panic. But that was just it, all the fear and animosity Purple held towards his own timeline was caused by others who he vehemently blamed with all his veracity for his insecurity and self-loathing, but only _he_ had the willpower to change that. He wanted to change and grow, to be able to fold forward and pepper tiny kisses over the cheeks of the only man who had ever treated him like he wasn't an object but rather a fully-fledged individual with opinions and emotions, nurturing them both in the gentle sea of rocking healing and energizing affection. He wondered if Red understood what was happening inside his mind and hoped with every fiber in his beating spooch that he didn't think it was his fault when Purple would carefully pull away or push him back when the stimulation and love became too much to handle at the moment. He had a long way to go, but, for the first time in the past two, grueling cycles, he finally felt like he had some semblance of a chance to feel normal again.

Red had given him that chance.

"Irk, will you hurry up already, you idiot?" Purple mumbled under his breath with a yawn, shivering a bit and scooting closer to the blast of churning heat wavering forward from his raging fire. "Please?"

He was so hungry, his body virtually starving for both physical nourishment but also for the exploration of what other affections Red had waiting for him to heal his unseen scars. He wanted another hug, another kiss, another tender word. He wanted to lay next to him as they formulated plans for their escape from the icy rock that had been their collective undoing but also their new beginning, wanted to hold him closer than he'd held anyone and finally capture the elusive scent lingering in his quarters on the Massive for six months and giving him the spark of hope and resilience he needed to keep going through the horrendous torment. He wanted him. He wanted him here so bad that it ached, drawing a condescending eye roll from Purple as he labored to push himself back up to little avail. Ugh, had he really become so weak that a little physical labor over a few days had taken what little bodyfat he'd kept precariously accumulated through Lire's hideous training? He realized now that it was part of ensuring that he wouldn't be able to fight back against his fiancé's bloodletting, but he'd made drastic efforts to keep himself from becoming a virtual skeleton when his PAK would hum out warnings that his BMI was dropping at a steep, rapid rate and keeping his organ function at a minimum. He'd sneak donuts and pastries from the cafeteria when he was allowed to practice public eating during peak downtimes of the day, stuffing the gooey deliciousness in the pockets of his concealing robes to ravenously devour as soon as he was locked away once more. It wasn't enough to keep him from becoming perilously thin, a bit of a sore spot stamped over Purple's wounded pride that he couldn't seem to overcome and forcing him to avoid mirrors whenever possible out of fear for what he would see. But now, Red was out amongst the enemy to find him something warm to eat, to fill him with nutrition and keep him safe like a life mate should.

Life mate?

Was Red his life mate?

What an interesting thought. Where had that even come from? Life mates were such a rarity in Irken society but captivated the minds of young and old couples alike to draw them into the sanctity of marking before the Control Brains in the form of a bodily scar to dedicate one another to the love and devotion of forever partnership. It was the ultimate promise and not something that should be taken lightly, a rarity in the flightiness of Irken society and the need of most typical Irkens to take many mates as a lingering instinct to mate and produce offspring before the innovation of Smeeteries were introduced. Huh…_Red_ as a life mate? Purple smiled weakly to himself, grinning under the edge of the fuzzy blanket and trying to hide away the temptation of yelling out the epiphany to the rest of the world when he realized how giddy and complete the notion made him feel on a fundamental level. At this point, he couldn't imagine his life without Red around to pester the daylights out of him, to hold him through the night, to make love to him when he was ready to transcend the deep set, lingering fears etched onto his morality and give himself over to the precious claws of his ever-so-patient lover. It felt incredibly light and airy, almost like he was floating through life and Purple couldn't tell if it was the lack of sugar in his bloodstream or the beginning beat of lovesickness coursing through his veins and introducing him to a world he'd never known but wanted to slowly dip his toes into before taking the plunge of no return. He knew Red would be patient…he knew he would be everything he'd ever wished for and more.

Purple tried to shoot up when his pulse lurched into his throat at the sound of the hatch jiggling, setting alight the ingrained need to run as he scrambled back and prepared for the worst, cocooning himself in a tight swathe of blankets when he realized he was too frustratingly feeble at the moment to properly defend himself against any sexual predators lurking in the grimy, grungy shadows and corners of his deepest, bottomless nightmares. Lire? Was it Lire come back from the dead once more to seek revenge and force him into the torn mattress to eat the box spring while he fucked him against his will? Was it? W-Was it? He couldn't speak, couldn't yell, finding himself frozen in time as the world slowed to something dissociative and wrong when the sound of a keycard outside buzzed over the electronic pad and granted access to the intrusive marauder coming for his flesh to sink his teeth into the sensitive nape of his neck like a monster and keep him from screaming as he rode out his release. Calm yourself, c-calm yourself and breathe. There was no one here who would do that to you! The owner of this place seemed so nice and simple in the mind, and Red was just across the way if he needed him.

Red would protect you.

Red _will_ protect you.

Please…please, no. No. No? He had control. No, he definitely had control. Purple could take a chance to defend himself and overcome everything that he'd been conditioned to think, feeling Red's prowess surround him and give him something profound to live and fight to the death for even if it was the end of him. He grabbed for the poker, thrusting it into the fire and standing to his unstable feet to thrust the now red-hot metal before him to brand whoever thought they could come in here and take. This time _he_ would take like he'd learned he could do for himself, opening up his instinct to battle his way back through the cosmos as thick adrenaline poured back through his system once more and made his antennae ring with the lingering sensation of vicious survival instincts. He held his breath when the door swung free and revealed his attacker, completely pacifying the mind-numbing anger and terror contorting together into something new and unstable when a familiar, utterly confused voice chuckled back at his completely nude battle stance.

"Purple? You really think you're gonna be able to destroy me while you're totally naked?" Red laughed, quickly closing the door before anyone could walk by and catch a peek of the raw gorgeousness staring back at him in more ways than one. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you or anything."

Purple gave an exhale of deep, guttural relief, setting the poker to the side and stooping to grab for his cover once more as Red stared and drunk in rare sight of him without some form of covering. He shrouded himself back in the woolen grace of his literal safety blanket with a tiny smile before striding forward and helping his partner sling the incredibly overstuffed backpack free from his now sore spine before folding forward and giving him a nervously apprehensive hug. He held back his voice when Red met him with equal enthusiasm, halfway picking him up from the floor and spinning him a bit before pressing an ecstatic, loving kiss to the side of his jaw. He hoisted him up completely before Purple could vehemently protest, slinging him over to the mattress and gingerly lowering him down to tuck him into a fluffy tangle of cozy goodness before bounding back to his pilfered backpack and happily tugging the zipper free.

"You'll never guess what I was able to score for us! There was so much convenience food in there, it wasn't even funny!" Red spoke rapidly, his own bewildering hunger getting the best of him as he plucked free burritos and instant noodle bowls, followed by handfuls upon handfuls of packaged, powdered donuts and candies that set Purple's mouth into a dangerous, ravenous water. "I got enough food for two weeks, which should be enough time for us to figure out what the hell we're gonna do next. I figured we could have our first good meal since we met, and I'm gonna make you something gourmet." He teased, holding up a faux teriyaki bowl with a childish beam before tossing him a package of snow white donuts.

Purple tore into the plastic, moaning into the taste as he shoved a handful of sugary deliciousness over his tongue and chewed as fast as he could, his body desperate for the much-needed spike in saccharine fat and grease. "Red, you're a genius and I don't know what I'd do without you! Irk, I'm so hungry I don't even care what I put in my mouth at this point as long as it's edible. But this…this is so much better than I could have ever expected!" He mumbled around his food, swallowing and taking another, slower bite as he watched his partner stand and move to the stove. "You better eat too or I'm gonna have to force food into you. I don't wanna be the only one stuffing my face over here like a mess."

Red nodded, tugging free a pan and setting up a few cups of chilly bromine to heat over the plasma burner before turning back and stealing a single donut from Purple's wrapper to infuriate him on purpose. He giggled when he protested and instinctually reached back out to scramble for it back, a deep grumble echoing up the back of his throat to initiate a challenge when Red held it up out of his reach and dangled it just out of his fingertips. He fell backwards over the pillow when Purple tossed his now empty wrapper to the side as his ingrained instinct to feed kicked in and told him that single fried piece of nonsense would be the life or death of him if he couldn't get it back, crawling his way over Red's lap and forcing him down as he hissed and blinked at the hilarious giggles tainting the air beneath him.

"No! N-No! I-I won it fair and square!" Red shouted on a repeated loop, stretching to keep just out of his grasp and rolling onto his side only to feel the precious air knocked free from his lungs when Purple elbowed him ruthlessly in the ribs. "Ouch you asshole, what the hell was that for?" He toyed, popping the donut in his mouth and audibly smacking on the doughy, honied glaze beneath the sugar as Purple's jaw went slack with visible betrayal. "Looks like you don't get to have it unless I feed it to you and I'm pretty sure you probably don't want my spit in your mouth."

Purple gasped in mock hurt, flattening his antennae to his skull and forcing Red further into the mattress as he maniacally laughed beneath his thighs. "You're the absolute worst guy I've ever met in my entire life! How _dare_ you steal back the food you stole for _me_?!" He kidded, flopping forward in the heat of the giddy moment and draping his still stark nude form over his partner. He kicked his feet aimlessly into the air, satisfied when Red went to tap out under the weight of his chest crushing his own and keeping him from taking a decent breath, grabbing for another package of frosted donuts and tossing them back in Purple's place to turn the tables.

He yelped and tried to catch them with his teeth, breaking focus just long enough to allow Red to gain the upper hand and flip him, grumbling in defeat when he grabbed him by the cheeks and squeezed lightly to distort his voice into something pathetically immature and ridiculous. "Don't let your guard down, dumbass. Everything in this room can be used as a weapon, so don't forget that."

Purple tried to speak through Red's puerile, infuriating squishing, spitting out a few syllables before all but freezing when he realized where they'd ended up in their risqué play-fighting. He hadn't tousled with anyone in a long while and the electric innocence of it was gloriously beautiful and refreshing to his exhausted senses, leaving him with a nothing more than sweaty palms and shallow breath as he stared back up at the vision of Irken perfection hovering above him with a flushed grim stretched over his flawless face. He exhaled, accidentally spitting when Red let go of his cheeks and backed up when his nerves hitched once more and boiled over, a firm palm to Red's shoulder sending him rocketing backwards in a tumble over the covers to land in a heap at the foot of the bed. Purple clasped both of his hands over his mouth and followed, humiliated that his heightened twitchiness still seemed to have a dire hold on his ability to be intimate, reaching out with careful hands to take Red by the jawline and turn him to the side.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to push you off without any warning. You just got a little close and my mind sort of reacted before I could think about what was happening." He explained hastily, tugging away when Red took him by the wrist and flashed him a sympathetic smile of his own. "What? Don't look at me that way! I-I don't need your pity, Red."

"It's not pity." Red breathed simply, leaning up on his elbows and ghosting his antennae forward over his partner's to draw a thick shiver from his spine as he growled and slung himself over the edge of the bed, crossing his legs to pout. "You're cute when you get all flustered and angry at my teasing. I've always thought that you were…um….beautiful."

He stood and kicked off his shoes, digging back into his bag and laboring to hoist free the hidden package of underwear he'd stolen before tossing them in Purple's direction, satisfied when he caught them despite his fervent tantrum. He also passed him a thermal jacket and a pair of fuzzy leggings, holding back a laugh when his partner pinched them between his fingers with a disgusted sneer and held them up with passive interest.

"Thanks? I don't really like being called beautiful, though. I'd rather you call me handsome or something manlier than that. Speaking of manly, these are literally women's clothes." He looked up and let his jaw go slack when he realized that Red had kept the pink set for himself to save him some of the humiliation of having to don the ridiculousness of feminine attire. "Woah, wait a second. Is yours…_pink_?"

Red shrugged and began stripping himself free of his old, soiled suit jacket and button down to zip the obnoxiously vivid pink over his chest. "Yeah, this is all I could find in the back. They didn't have any men's clothes besides the underwear, but I figured this would be better than nothing anyway. I thought about giving you the pink one as a joke, but I'd rather you feel like the manly one for once since it's such a big deal for you." He swallowed his own wounded pride with an eye roll, quickly tugging on his leggings and going commando when the tender sound of a rolling boil grazed over his antennae. "Don't worry about it and never tell anyone about this or I'll literally kill you."

Purple stared down at his own deep grey set, a spark of appreciation driving him to finally shroud himself in something comfortable for once. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been given clothing that fit properly and didn't rub his now soft skin raw with distasteful textures that were considered opulent and expensive. These were simple and plain, giving him a tiny bit of reassurance that he could eventually reintegrate properly into society as a successful member of a greater whole somewhere.

Somewhere.

He jolted when Red tugged open two packages of dry noodles and tossed them without care into the pot, crunching them with a titanium spoon and pulverizing them to something that was easier to eat before ripping open the flavor packets with his teeth and spilling them into the simmering concoction as he tossed the used foil to the ground. Purple finished dressing himself and struggled to his still weak gait, stopping to warm his hands in front of the wood stove before traipsing over and venturing a burst of unexpected confidence when he reached out for Red's waist from behind, hesitating a moment before drawing back. He shuffled awkwardly on his feet and watched him obliviously taste their first warm meal in ages with focused scrutiny, mumbling something to himself under his breath when it needed something else and hunting through the cabinets for more salt but unfortunately finding none. He threw a hand on his hip and scratched at his antennae with the other as he tried to figure out what to add, giving Purple the opportunity to break out of his shell as he forced himself forward on light toes to let his fingers land stiffly on his partner's waistline, curling into his leggings and hooking his claws into his waistband when he panicked and didn't know what to do next. He felt Red go rigid in return, blinking in mounting suspicion when he all but ignored his touch, leaning back slightly and obviously aware of Purple's plight but letting him move at his own place and explore the gorgeous confidence he knew would present itself if he was patient enough and gave him time to figure himself out. Purple moved forward with a yelp when Red all but fell backwards into his arms, fumbling and blubbering out an apology when his partner glanced cheekily over his shoulder and went to say something before Purple realized it had been on purpose and glared back, letting go and dropping him hard to the floor. He bent down and stole the spoon away when Red groaned and rolled onto his side with a heated look of his own followed by a short twitch of his antennae, instead focusing his attention on the finished soup and reaching up to grab for two bowls.

"You didn't have to be a total prick about it!" Red snapped, pushing himself up and plucking a foreign crumb from his tongue with a shudder. "Ugh, forget it, is the soup done yet?"

Purple nodded and beamed smugly down from above, holding a bowl of piping hot soup above the heap of a man he'd reduced his partner two before passing it down and condescendingly flicking his antennae with this finger. "That's what you get for scaring the literal hell out of me and thinking you can get away with it. Here, you big smeet, it smells pretty good, too. I can't believe I'm this excited about instant noodles but hey, here we are." He leaned back against the counter and took up a fork from a side drawer, curling what was left of the broken pasta around the prongs and stuffing his mouth with the salty, spicy musk typical of Callnowian cuisine. "Wow, this is delicious!"

Flavor burst over his tongue as he quickly shoveled another mouthful of goopy, well-done noodles in his mouth, leaning forward to keep them from smacking him in the chin and swallowing thickly around his first heaping bite before going for another. He wanted to cry at the sensation of comforting warmth spreading down to his toes and lighting him up as his cells drank in and filled with nutrients, instantly revitalizing Purple on a molecular level as he nodded and hummed out his praise. Red did the same, scooting up against the cabinet and drawing his knees to his chest as he furiously piled food in his mouth like he hadn't eaten in cycles, dribbling warm, spiced bromine down his front without a care in the world as he tipped his head back and chugged what was left of the liquid to focus on the noodles instead. They ate in genial silence, each going back for a second helping and giggling at how dastardly messy they both seemed to be when they were desperate for a quick bite, pointing out the stains dotting their once pristine jackets and the powdered sugar lacing their lips like they were rapidly eating in the chow line back in the Academy. Purple eventually sunk down to sit next to his partner, brushing their shoulders together at a comfortable distance and finishing off his midnight meal as he set his bowl aside with a satisfied sigh. He didn't feel physically empty anymore, his mind and body screaming out their thanks in the form of sleepy cognition and tingly energy racing through his fingertips as Red did the same and reached out with his free hand and slid the pads of his fingers over his palm. He was desperate for contact it seemed, cluing Purple into a tiny morsel of his fractured past without true love and urging him to meet his featherlight touches with a few of his own, moving against his calloused hands to slowly entwine their fingers together. They fit perfectly like two interlocking puzzle pieces, as cheesy as it sounded in his now racing mind, swallowing down his need to run and telling himself on a repeated loop that he was safe for once. Here, in Red's hold, he was completely, wholly safe. Instead of fleeing and thrusting back against him to shove him violently away, he took a deep gulp of stale air, holding it for a few seconds and letting it go in a slow cascade of satisfying understanding for what he needed to destroy. It would take cycles for him to fully heal, and even then Purple already knew he would never be able to mend his fractured soul completely no matter how hard he tried. But he wanted to try. He wanted to try and overcome the reflex to bawl and plead for forgiveness when the sound of Red's ceramic bowl clinked softly against the floor followed by the massage of his free hand against his forearm as he turned to the side. Purple squeezed his eyes shut and focused on the obscure touch he'd expected but still didn't quit know how to process, feeling his forcibly calm breath hitch in the back of his throat at the sheer kindness of his partner's massage. His fingers were so rough and dotted with the lingering slices of knives and blowback from plasma rifles leaving deep scars through his tissue, each raised pinprick like braille cluing Purple in to his horrid past as a soldier and the need to protect himself and his planet with every shudder left in his bones. He was a minefield of bloodshed, a story screeching out torment and agony from chemically bleached retinas down to the sore ache in his feet that could never sit still, twitching aimlessly as he crept ever closer and closed the mountain of a gap between them. As the space diminished, Purple could feel himself blindly drawn forward like a magnet, following Red's lead as he began to sweat from a combination of the thermal heat rebounding against his skin under the collar of his fluffy jacket to and the spice simmering in his system to heat him from within. His mind swam when he picked up on something he hadn't noticed lingering against Red's antennae and faintly grazing his own as he leaned in and screamed through his own thoughts to pull back, still urging himself on to weather the storms of affection and love despite his own blinding, mind-numbing demons scratching and digging their razor sharp teeth into every organ in his body to flip his stomach and set a shudder into his hands. Red noticed, smoothing a thumb over his knuckles and whispering something unexpected that nearly made Purple's precarious, swelling emotion capsize and sink into the swelteringly warmhearted gaze he was met with when he nervously peeked through the low light of the fire crackling tranquility across the way.

"Can I kiss you?"

Purple sniffed and scrunched up his face, beyond infuriated with himself when he once again burst into tears at something so simple and typically normal for new couples to do. But…they weren't a normal couple, were they. He rubbed at his cheeks with the back of his free hand and wiped away the gooey, salty waterfall of fat, thankful tears rolling down to drip from the peak of his chin to the back of Red's razed hand resting delicately over his, audibly sobbing through the dark and shattering it like glass when his partner remained sympathetic and understanding, giving him much needed space to process the incredibly, glowingly brilliant feeling of being given a choice. Red had asked permission instead of grasping him by the shoulders and indulging in his body like icecream, giving him the chance to back out if he wanted to.

He didn't want to.

Purple nodded wildly and choked on his shorting emotion when Red tenderly took him by the chin and sealed the deal for the second time, a faint ghost of a brush hatching over his shuddering lips before deepening into something that had Purple seeing stars. Soft, perilous, confusing, visceral. Too many words and not enough meaning to describe exactly what he was feeling, gasping and leaning back when Red followed him down and continued to lightly pepper tiny smooches over his mouth that only grew sweeter as time sluggishly drew on. There was no torturous agony, no harrowing abuse, no mind-bending, excruciating rape. There was only deliciousness and the lingering taste of chili and sugar combined with the occasional graze of Red's ribbed tongue cautiously prodding against him before drawing back when Purple pulled away for an overstimulated gasp. It was all too much, but in a good way. Myabe? Yes…y-yes…this was good. This was most definitely good.

Red stood without a word and extended a hand down as Purple cleaned himself up, leaving the bowls behind like messy bachelors and guiding one another on towards the mattress before Red lowered him back down with careful intent. He pressed against him once more and entangled their bare feet for warmth before dipping back in and smoothing another infinitely loving kiss to his partner's now delirious, tear-streaked smile, giggling when he earned a trophy of breathy chuckles at his efforts and sighed when Purple deepened the attack on his mouth. He was picking up speed, gaining surprising waves of confidence and crashing over Red's form like a gentle ocean and digging his claws into his collarbone like his whole world would come crashing down if he let go, afraid of what would happen should he ever lose his grip on the divinity he felt inside right here, right now.

When Red finally pulled away, lingering against his lips a moment longer and snuggling down into the blanket for a true decent sleep for once, Purple followed suit. He blinked, expecting himself to feel awkward in the aftermath of their second…well…sequence of close quarters kissing but feeling nothing but perpetual, never-ending trust and peace when his lover poked him teasingly between the eyes and never once let his hands wander. He was so caring, so compassionate, with that dorky, irritatingly lopsided smile and broken visage hitching behind his eyes as he tried to hide it. One day he would learn what made Red tick inside, what his past had done to him and how it had slit him in half like a vegetable to leave him without a sense of peace in his jaded spooch. They would both heal in time…they would both heal each other.

Purple went to open his mouth when he felt a delicate flush hit his skin, smiling and immediately letting it fade when a faint sound leaked through the night and alerted Flicky outside. She pressed her face into the frigid glass of the window and nearly drawing a panicked yelp out of Purple's mouth as his erratic blood pressure skyrocketed, feeling Red clamp a rapid hand over his lips to stifle his frantic breathing. Who? Who was out there and why had they decided to knock on this of all doors? Were they the authorities coming to arrest Red for stealing away hundreds of dollars of food, or was it something worse? Was it Ipi here to rake her claws over their backs and drink their blood from the floorboards like an insect while Flicky screeched and went on the defensive outside? She peeped and warbled outside, scratching and scratching at the glass with her front feet when she sensed something terrible lurking in the darkness, followed by the sounds of a food drumming impatiently on the metal of the hatch before the intruder knocked again. Red brought a finger to his lips to keep Purple from crying out when he pulled his hand back, silently instructing him to stay put before gingerly slinging himself up and cautiously waving for Flicky to stop her incessant howling from outside out of fear that she would give up their position. She didn't listen, continuing to pound her gelatinous legs and flick her nervous proboscis against the pane and slowly cracking it before Purple hopped up and frantically took over, pressing a reassuring, but internally terrified palm against the glass and worriedly hushing her from the inside. Red acted fast, rooting about in the kitchen cabinets for anything sharp he could use as a weapon when the mystery attacker began pounding their bodyweight into the hatch, slowly rocking it off its hinges as the two scrambled about in a terrified daze to make for the window and escape. Red gave up on finding a knife and instead scrambled about to grab any food he could manage to salvage and toss it wildly in their backpack as Purple extended his PAK lasers and motioned Flicky back, soldering a clean hole in the glass and scooting the nightstand up under the sill for leverage to climb through. They needed to leave, and they needed to get out and hijack a ship fast before whoever it was kicked their way in.

Bang.

The door rocketed free from it's already rusted, precarious hinges and slammed into the floor, awakening the rest of the hostel as confused shouts and worried stutters resounded from other rooms, freezing Red and Purple in mid climb when they were met with the very same nightmare they had been trying to escape for days upon days. She was zombified into a pallid beast of gnarled skin and flaking scales at best, stitched together with grimy, flesh-slicked sewing thread and wobbling on her icicle heels as she trudged over the mess of blankets and wrappers they'd left behind in their panic stricken wake, tumbling over one another as Red turned and bristled in the direction of the soul they could never seem to main harsh enough to put down for good.

"You. Why don't we have a talk?"

Purple felt Flicky tug at his side, trying to urge him to flee with her as he stared on to the hood-shrouded face of the one woman he didn't want to ever see again, half gagging at the hideous smell flooding from her grey, rotting flesh and festering wounds petrifying him to nothing more than a lump of frigid, unmoving stone.

Sen?!

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Sen is back! But WHY?! Let's find out together on Wednesday! Love you all and I really, really appreciate all of the reviews and feedback you guys have been giving me! I consider this our fanfiction, not just mine, and I really enjoy putting your requests in the story! Thank you so much and have a lovely day!

_**Next Update: Wednesday, March 25, 2020 at 10:00 pm CDT (UTC -5)!**_


	18. An Unlikely Alliance

Welcome back to another episode of Fire in the Snow! I'm glad you guys are continuing to enjoy this story, and come back for more!

To Larrimeme: AH I SAW YOU REVIEW AND I TOTALLY FORGOT THAT YOU SENT IN A REQUEST FOR MY OTHER FIC, YOU PLUS ME, EQUALS THREE! I HONESTLY FORGOT AND ILL WORK ON GETTING THAT DONE TONIGHT NOW THAT I HAVE MORE TIME! Your prompts are always really nice and thank you so, so much for your patience! I really do appreciate it and I'll get back to writing our little Tallest smeet soon!

**Chapter rated M for graphic depictions of gore/body modifications, brief light violence, mentions of political assassination/intent to kill, brief heavy language, suggestive themes, and general adult content.**

* * *

She was a virus, a literal plague hitting Red directly in the spooch and squeezing. He froze, one hand on Purple's hip as he hung petrified through the broken glass of the window and one hand curling into a defensive fist as his ex-fiancé looked him up and down with a half sneer of appalled disgust. Why did she have to show up? Why did she have to exist at this point? Anytime anything in his life seemed to pick up and take a turn for the better, Sen would slither her way back into his life and show off her extensively cruel political clout by stealing his blood and murdering his family to laugh back in their faces as their corpses rotted to nothing in the darkness of the forest outside. She was a menace at best, taking a wobbly step forward on poorly self-stitched heels that cracked and strained under her weight, trying to support her rapidly deteriorating body to little avail as she plunged a now gnarled hand forward to grip at the edge of the hatch frame before she took a tumble. She reached up and smoothed the reeking, black velveteen fabric of her enshrouding hood over her crusted, matted face to hide her grisly wounds that would never close before taking another shuddering step and growling as she kicked her dangerously high shoes away to walk on the scaly pads of her clawed toes.

Red clamped a hand over his mouth when the stench of putrid cells hit him, urging Purple to move but finding that his partner had all but gone catatonic to the terrifying visions swarming in his retinas and showing him the worst of the Irken and Callnowian Empires combined. How could Del and Ipi ever think that an abomination of nature, a literal pus-filled, festering wound of a woman would be able to stop them in their tracks as her tongue lolled in her flaccid jaw and what little blood her body was able to produce slogged to the floor in tiny patters dotting the tops of her feet. Was she dead? Alive? Something hanging hazardously inbetween the two extremes? Red had to think fast, flying down and snatching for a shard of glass as his PAK legs threatened to burst free from their casing and defend everything he had left, bristling in the dark and feeling a protective growl flutter up the back of his throat when Sen coughed and gagged a bit on her own failing throat. She attempted to speak, thrusting a finger forward to halt their advances when Purple finally came to and yelped, scrambling to unhook himself from the piercing shards digging into his skin and keeping him in place as she waved frantically for their attention and cleared her throat once more. Red fought back, squinting and chucking the ruthless shard and watching with wide eyes when it careened forward and lodged in their enemy's shoulder before falling away to the floor with an empty clatter as Sen rolled her remaining eyes and shook her head in disappointment, finally finding the strength to clear her throat and warble out something broken and hollow.

"Would you stop fighting me and listen to what I have to say before you assume that I'm still your enemy?"

Red scoffed in her direction, scrambling to unhook his idiot of a partner from the glass as Flicky chattered and screeched in distress outside, circling in the snow and desperate to find a way inside the hostel to defend the two Irkens that she viewed as her babies. "Irk, why won't you die already?!" He screeched, throwing out his lasers and heating them to perfection with a snarl. "I'll give you a chance to get out of here or I'll blow you all over the damn wall! I don't care if you can't die, but the thought of you suffering in thousands of pieces for eternity is sounding pretty good to me!"

Sen didn't listen, admiring the spark of deep magenta plasma radiating from the coiled tips of Red's extensions and moving forward once more on a courageous whim to address Purple directly. "Nemi, will you give me a second chance to explain myself? Call off your rabid hound and let's talk about this like adults. I know I tricked you in the past, love, but I really do need your help with this whole mess I've gotten myself into." She paused, swallowing a blood clot and shuddering at the taste. "I…I can't do this alone anymore."

Red glanced over his shoulder when Purple halted his efforts once more and narrowed his eyes, snaking his other leg back over the sill and ignoring Flicky's mounting cries outside as she snuck her proboscis inside the room to try and urge him into her shielding, motherly legs. "What do you mean? You wanna come in here after everything you put us both through and ask for our help with some vague mission you got stuck in your head? Do you think we're stupid enough to fall for any more of your lies?!" He dropped back to the floor and gripped at Red's arm with tentative claws, sliding his fingers down to bravely take his hand and entwine their fingers. "I'm finally finding some happiness and I'm not going to let you take that away from me before I can figure out what it feels like. Red is right; you have thirty seconds to leave or I'll let him blow you to pieces."

Red felt a powerful determination flood his senses as a wiry grin spread over his cheeks, squeezing around the fingers he always wanted to call his own and willing his weaponized spinal extensions to charge before moving them to his flustering target. There was no more doubt in his mind about it as he stared back at the frightened evil that had taunted and sliced through his life, urging him to scar his own body to hide from her maniacal clutches and burn his once gorgeous eye color to something he was now beginning to vaguely recognize as his own; Purple trusted him. That was all he needed in this life, no matter how short or long it ended up being for them both or how difficult and horrifying their journey together would become on their way to the Green. Purple's trust filled him up and gave him reason to fight, reason to persevere without hesitation…reason to _live_ again.

"W-Wait! Please, Nemi, hear me out! I know I've hurt you and Styx, and I'm willing to provide you with an unmarked Callnowian ship stocked completely with provisions and weaponry if you agree to my terms! You can keep it and leave after all of this is over and I swear on what's left of my life that I won't pursue you any further!" Sen tried to remain tall, sinking down when her flimsy spine popped and hitched in her back, dropping her to her knees with a cry of unexpected shock as she hit the floor and continued her now pathetic, tear-filled begging. "Please just listen to me! This has come too far and they're completely delusional to their own scientific failures! They're going to kill both of our people if you don't _listen_!"

There was a heavy, soul-crushing moment of silence as Red weighed their options, noticing Purple's fingers twitch at the desperate, frantic tone of Sen's bleating voice reducing her to nothing more than a smeet before them. She folded forward into the floor and bawled out something genuinely frustrated and unfulfilled, nothing like her first rouse and delicate crying atop her operating table as crocodile tears stained her cheek. This was guttural and full of self-loathing hatred, a hollow, eerie resonance of power stripped by biological modifications and a despairing wish for the chilly embrace for death that would never come. She was once so gorgeous and untainted by society, a living work of art glanced upon with awe filled stares and fluttering gasps of excited respect as she waltzed by with more grace than anyone Red had ever known. As much as he hated to be around her and dance with her by force in front of her peers, his hands against her petite waist as he faked a lovestruck smile and let it fade completely when she turned her back to sample ourselves and laugh at the jokes of her council, he respected her in a way. She tried to hard to maintain her carefully cultivated image in the presence of her mother, finding elaborate ways to impress her and prove that she was truly fit to be the heir to the Empire she would once inherit when she was married off to a Tallest that would never be. She had held back to give him space when it was needed and was surprisingly tender when they were crowded together and expected to be intimate under her silk comforter, running her soothing claws up over his cheeks with words of encouragement when he couldn't force his body to adequately respond to her naked form. Of course, she was also a terrifying brat, screaming at service drones and advisors when more news of Irken rebellions would throw hitches in her shopping plans or her claws weren't manicured to sheer, divine perfection by her standards. Sen was a double edged sword, drawing men in with the promise of beauty gone stagnant and cold before them and leaving her only with her horrid personality to keep her afloat in a world that wanted to sever her head from her shoulders and bleed her dry with a calculated slice to the throat. Red wanted to contort her into a knot, chuck her in the frigid depths of the raging Callnowian coastal seas, and never think about her sickening visage again. It would end a chapter of his own harrowing trauma and bloodletting, bringing justice and a close to the nightmare he was forced to walk in the gloom of Ipi's mansion as he writhed against his bonds and was forced to stand naked against an unclean wall with thousands of others, his PAK pulled open and his lifeforce pilfered until he was woozy and nauseous enough to give up the violent protest he would scream back. She had done this. Ipi had done this. As long as they shared DNA, Sen was also a target in his mission to rid this Universe of the scum that had choked and stolen the life away from his kind and everyone he had ever loved, and he wouldn't let them take that away from Purple.

He had to do something right for once.

He had to keep him safe.

"No." He responded simply, feeling a surge of powerful electricity tingle up his spine and build in his deliciously white-hot lasers, wanting nothing more than to blow her face to gooey, vile hunks of forgotten scales and outdated ideology. "Haven't we already listened enough? Look where it got us," he paused when his own rage threatened to consume him, feeling Purple pacify it with the quick swipe of his thumb over his knuckles, "we ended up displaced, marked for slaughter by your pathetic excuse for an Empire, our friends are dead, and we can't go home because we'll be put on trial as traitors! Do you realize how hard it is to live, really live, after everything you and your people have done to ours?! The only reason we've survived this long is by fighting our way back to the top and we're going to shoot your disgusting mother between the eyes and strangle our Tallest in his sleep to take back our planet and make it for the people!"

"That's what I want, you thick idiot!" Sen choked, pushing up on a shaky arm when her vision lapsed. "If you would have let me speak before going off on a tangent like you do, you would have known that I came here wanting you to assassinate my mother!"

Red felt his argument die on his lips when Purple pulled away and stepped forward at the notion, kneeling and reaching out to smooth back Sen's jet black hood, admiring her face and wincing at the terribly disfigured monster she had become. He held her gaze, a strange sense of poise and grace sweeping he room as he commanded authority in the rare spikes that they tended to appear, throwing another wrench in Red's plans. Purple was so venerable, but so impeccably strong at his core, a virtual warlord beneath the skin clawing to fight his way out and raze the galaxy with Irken excellence when he became Tallest…if he became Tallest. Red hesitated, lowering his lasers when his courageous boyfriend brushed away Sen's tears like a gentle prophet, appalled with himself for the jealousy ripping up through his bouncing immediate thoughts, quickly penetrating the surface and traveling deeper to hook into his own political desires to become the almighty emperor of everything he had ever known. He wanted to take every inch of the starsystem in the name of Irk, to destroy all those threatening to squash his people beneath their boots like the insects they perceived them to be and prove to the Universe that the Irken race was so much more than a manifestation of conscious fleas to laugh at. They were the light in the darkness, the boogyman creeping around corners to steal away the souls of their greatest enemies and thrust them into the pit of swirling cosmic nothingness as they laughed and overtook each and every resource they could find. Didn't they deserve that? They had been deprived of resources for as long as Red could remember, thinking hastily back to his hatching at the Naphrus Smeetery in the last forested region of his home planet and how they had so little to eat that it wasn't even funny. Del didn't care if smeets were stunted in growth, keeping what little provisions he could manage aboard his flagship, the Vortian made Massive commissioned by the benevolent Tallest Miyuki of the past, and swallowing down globs of saccharine sugar and candy as the rest of the public starved.

Would Purple be able to pull them out of the horrors they had lived in for so long?

Would he be able to give up his dreams of becoming Tallest to someone so soft?

But he wasn't soft, was he? He was a powerhouse in the making, stomping deliciously on each and every cognizant belief that Red had ever hatched and cracking open a new internal conflict he hadn't thought of before. Maybe…just maybe…he was the Tallest they all needed. If Purple could come into his own personal power and grow beyond the barriers that Lire had forced him to construct, he could stand proud and resolute on the bloody bridge of the Massive and project his voice out to billions to pave the way for a new era of greatness unlike anything they had ever known in their lifetimes. He could see it in his lavender eyes, the spark of a determined inferno blazing behind his fear and keeping him tethered to the present as Red floated out into the far future and panicked when he realized he wouldn't have a place in that vision. He would be forgotten and left behind if he didn't take Purple to the Green and keep him out of the limelight, loving him so deeply and hating himself so sincerely at the idea that he was potentially stunting his growth for his own selfish gain. What if he didn't take him to the Green and allowed nature to take its course and drive his soul away from the glistening command chair of the Massive like he had somehow known would happen all this time? What if…so many what ifs.

So many what ifs…

Red didn't know what to think anymore, watching as Purple took his sniveling ex-fiancé by the hand and helped her up to some semblance of a sit, groaning in utter disgust when her blood coated his palm and promptly turned to dust.

"You want to kill Ipi?" He asked slowly, snatching Sen by what was left of her jaw and batting her sentient hair away when she went to scent at his wrist, squeezing and holding her in place as he demanded answers. "Speak! You came here for a reason, so look me in the eye like an adult and tell me what you're plotting, and maybe I'll consider adopting your plan as my own."

Power. So much power booming through his voice and sending consistent shivers down Red's spine as he wavered in his hiking boots. He must look ridiculous compared to someone so naturally suited to leadership, an aristocrat in the making and a crimson-eyed servant destined to run from the law forever. They were so different…so utterly distant yet so profoundly close and bonded by the toils of warfare and bloodshed forcing them out of their roles and into something more that they would have never guessed they could ever take on. Red, the impure flea, had become the protector of Purple, the glistening heir to their Empire. Maybe he was being selfish.

Sen warily waved for Red to lower his weapons, drawing him back to the perilous present and urging him over to listen to her planned words when he grumbled in distain and fell in line with his partner, stooping to hear out the flesh he wanted to tear away with his claws. Purple nudged him in the ribcage to keep him in line, drawing an irritated eye roll on impulse before sitting cross-legged on the cold floor and shivering in the wind flooding from the shattered window behind them. Red wrapped an arm around his shoulders to keep him warm, a tiny epiphany hitching over his despondent, depressing thoughts and giving him a new, bottomlessly gorgeous idea.

What if…what if they could rule _together_?

Miyuki had her right hand man, Spork, before she was assassinated in an unfortunate scientific accident, allowing him to rule in her absence as her benefactor and take over the Empire to continue her work. They were treated as equals, good friends ruling as co-dependents and relying on one another for ideas and opinions before they made decisions on most matters. It was strange to think about Purple as his co-dependent this early into their relationship, but maybe, just maybe…they could be _co-Tallests_.

"It's simple, really." Sen gurgled, spitting to the side and digging into her pocket to place an ignition starter into Purple's hand and gift him the glossy black ship waiting outside. "I want you to murder my mother and your Tallest before they inject a mixture of purple-eyed blood and Callnowian blood into the systems of their two amassing armies. They want to create a force that is unstoppable and immortal in the galaxy to take everything they can get their claws on, but it's…well…it's not that simple."

"I knew she was going to do something crazy." Purple breathed, thinking a few long moments before forcing himself to meet Sen's gaze once more. "Why do you want out of the Flesh Treaty all of a sudden? Wasn't this also your plan from the beginning?"

"Yeah, why the hell should we trust someone who literally stole my blood for over a cycle to inject into her own body?" Red growled, inching forward and huffing when Purple placed a hand to his chest to keep him at a reasonable distance. "Dammit, let me take care of this and shred her to bite sized bits like she deserves!"

"Shut up you gross little insect! Your filthy blood is what did this to me in the first place!"

"My filthy blood?! What if it was your blood that turned you into a monster, huh?!"

"Please, I come from a line of purity, while you come from the most backwater place I've ever seen. If I had known that you were so impure, I wouldn't have cared how handsome you used to be."

"Excuse me?! What the hell, Pur, you're just gonna let her talk to me like this?!"

"Aw, how sweet! You have nicknames for one another now? Does that mean you've fucked him, then? Poor dear, Nemi…you shouldn't lie with fleas, you could get dirty!"

Purple slammed a hand down on the floor and snatched Sen by the collar to draw her in close, gripping around the fabric and shredding it with his claws as if it was her throat. He held her gaze with a burning one of his own and watched as she swallowed, submitting to the swathes of radiating domination seeping from his skin and terrifying her into submission. When he spoke, his voice was calm and level with sinister undertones fit to send even the worst of criminals to the highlands to cower and willing Red to hold his tongue out of fear for what his partner would say in his fit of irate irritation. In this moment, Red saw the man under the mask that had barreled his way through the Elite at the top of his company, feeling his breath hitch over his teeth when he wanted to insult Sen further for her insolence but decided against it when Purple narrowed his eyes and shot him a sweltering look out of the corner of his eye. In the time they'd been together, it seemed to be pretty hard to push his buttons, but their childish squabbling had seemingly done the job and the mention of sex had pushed him one inch too far over the line.

Uh oh.

"My name. Isn't. Nemi." He growled long and low, drawing her up with a swift jerk and nearly giving her whiplash as she whimpered. "It's Purple! And don't you dare sit here and beg for my forgiveness while talking to my boyfriend like he doesn't exist! He's not a flea, he's not impure, and he deserves the same respect you'd give me if I was towering above you as your future galactic leader because I'm this close," he waved a had sharply for emphasis, "to throwing you in this ship you just gave me and shooting you out into space to watch you choke! I don't want to hear any more fighting out of either of you or I promise you'll both be sleeping with the stars!"

Silence.

Red sat dumbfounded when Purple dropped their target hard to the floor and stood to pace, grumbling to himself as she coughed and hastily tried to collect herself, smearing her hood back over her mangled features out of humiliation. "Pur? You uh…you ok?"

"I'm thinking." He kept his answers short as he trudged the perimeter of the room to cool off, reaching out to rub over Flicky's proboscis when she scrambled to try and force herself through the tiny window. After a moment longer, he spoke back up. "I asked you a question before you ignored me. Why do you want out of the Flesh Treaty?"

Sen didn't know what to say, bringing her claws together and staring with three glossy black eyes down at her grubby lap as she fiddled with the pads of her fingers. "I…it's not as stable as I'd hoped it would be. Mother changed when she met Del after my father was killed in the war and I think she was afraid she would lose him too over time. They had this crazy idea to hunt for a way to remain immortal in this life and keep themselves from ever having to slip away from one another, and I used to think it was a great idea as a child. The thought of never having to be afraid of death was comforting, and I wanted to do everything I could to get to that point, so I began helping Mother search for a cure to the disease of life on our own planet while Del searched on yours. She came across it on accident when she cut her hand and mixed her blood in with Irken blood and it set her into a frenzy."

"Be more specific. I want to know what prompted you to come to us." Purple demanded, slinging his arms behind his back and striding back to hover over her. "We were part of your project and you used both of our blood to become whatever it is you are now. Why us?"

"It wasn't just you, but the five thousand others that Mother buried in a mass grave outside of the capitol. She over-bled them for as much as she could get, because violet eyes are so rare in your society." Sen explained, disgusting Red to his core and sending a ripple of shock up through his spooch.

Five thousand innocent souls…gone? Buried like nothing?

"I began to get uneasy when she started talking about how everyone's blood was different and didn't have the same results. It depended on the purity of the Irken DNA," Sen explained hastily as she rolled onto her side, "to find yield the results that she wanted. DNA like Styx's…um…I mean _Red's_ was riddled with imperfections we didn't notice until it was too late. We injected myself and Del's advisor, Lire, with his blood and it turned our own toxic. Sure, we can't die, but we began to rot from the inside out without being able to stop it. Mother tried to give me a transfusion of clean Callnowian blood leftover from her experiment, but there's no way to reverse the internal process once it begins."

"So you're telling me…you're a walking _corpse_ because of my blood?" Red breathed pressing a hand to his chest to feel for his pulse and shudder at the thought of himself being so filthy that he'd caused two lives to deteriorate like putty. No, they stole his blood and made the decision themselves. This wasn't his fault.

Sen gave him a weakly condescending frown behind Purple's back before he turned to face her once more, waving for her to continue her insane tale. "The process is only one-hundred percent safe when the blood of a pure Callnowian is mixed with the blood of a pure Irken." She reached up and pointed with a gnarled finger to Purple who blinked in return. "You. They want you. You're the only violet-eyed Irken born to the Veloria Smeetery in seven-hundred cycles and they won't wait for another before they inject millions of our people with bad blood. If they get their hands on you, they'll be able to make an unstoppable army of soldiers with skin tougher than diamonds and an inability to ever feel pain. If they don't, they'll still inject with what they have and turn the remainder of everyone we know into rotting messes of flesh to suit their own greed. They don't care about us anymore, or me, and I've been pushed to the sidelines as a useless pet now that I'm falling apart…that's why I need you to kill Mother and Del before they finish this."

Red held up a hand to stop her rambling, standing and smoothing a hot palm up over his buzzing antennae as he tried to process the crux of everything they'd been chasing for so long. This was it…this was the motive. Ipi and Del wanted to take over the Universe with an immortal army willing to do their bidding. Purple had been selected because he was the purest man they could find, a trophy of sorts until Red had stolen him away and opened up the greatest manhunt to retrieve him in history. He could only imagine what Ipi was undergoing to find them both, how much money and resources they were expending as Del probably sent out the whole of the ruthless Armada to scan the skies for any unknown ships passing through. They would be watched at every corner, followed through every alleyway, hunted through every forest and nebula. He couldn't take Purple to the Green. If he did, they'd surely be walking into an ambush for his soul and he'd be lost forever to the system and locked away somewhere where Red would never see him again. He needed to keep him close at his side and practically glue their palms together if he was to keep him safe and unharmed like he'd planned, running through every minute detail Sen had poured out and nodding to himself as he went. They'd tried to kill Ipi, but her blood was so intensely pure, they were unable to sustain a hit with every blow bouncing off of her like liquid, leading him to believe that they were going about this coup the wrong way. Del would be much easier to infiltrate, as Red and Purple both knew their way around the Massive and had his schedule memorized by heart.

Think.

Prove to yourself that you're not as unintelligent as they think.

Red folded forward and rested his chin on his scuffed knees, noticing his antennae twitch when Purple called out to him but not registering what he'd said as he sunk deeper and deeper into his reeling mindscape. Ok, backtrack for a minute and stop thinking so crazy hard about everything. Look at it simply…everything is simple somehow…maybe? Ugh, maybe not. Red huffed and buried his face in his shins with a groan, once again ignoring his partner as he reached up and grabbed at his antennae, overwhelmed and overstimulated by the torrent of mind-numbing information hitting him all at once and wracking his brain to his limits as he squeezed his eyes shut and forced himself to try and remember everything he could of biology back in the Academy. Wait. He'd failed biology. Or was that mathematics? What was the difference? Math was numbers, biology was science with numbers rolled together and cells and plasma and…and…something having to do with blood and antibodies and antigens and nutrients and too many things with long names he couldn't pin down as his thoughts began to race. Was he actually stupid? Why couldn't he pin anything down?! Was it hot in here? W-Was the building supposed to feel like it was shaking or were those his shoulder shuddering away from Purple's gentle fingers trying to pull him back? What did Sen think of him now, knowing how she boned someone so idiotic and nearly married a loser? Ugh, he wasn't supposed to care about her in a time like this! She was the one who injected her blood in her body and-

Injected?

Red's gaze snapped up to meet Purple's as he stooped in bewildered confusion to place his hands on his slack cheeks before crying out and skittering back when Red shot up and yelled on a continuous loop. That was it! That was it! He'd finally figured out the final puzzle piece to this harrowing, seemingly never ending nightmare. He flew down and cackled as he tugged Purple to his feet and spun him around, pulling him into a tight, forced hug as he squirmed and stuttered out of perplexed shock. Sen tried to struggle up below them, finally moving to her knees as another tooth spilled from her mouth and spilled to the floor, plucking it back and shoving it into the blackened socket to imitate some sense of normalcy.

"R-Red what are you-"

Red hushed him, pressing a blinding, adrenaline-fueled kiss to his lips before finally letting him go and turning back to Sen with a renewed determination. "Do you know where the Massive is now?! Can you take us there?!"

Sen shrunk back at the abrupt change of volume and winced when someone in an adjacent room banged on the wall with an annoyed shout. "I-I…yes? Why?" She stammered, squealing when Red snatched her by the wrist and hauled her back to her feet against her will.

"If you ever think about betraying us, I'll shoot you into space and laugh at your suffering." He warned, his grin quickly returning through the violence when he turned back to a very confused Purple trying to collect himself at the bizarre shift in the atmosphere. "Pur, I did it! I figured out what we have to do to kill Del!"

Purple immediately lit up, bounding forward over broken glass and nearly tripping over their backpack as he listened intently and waited with bated breath for Red's epiphany. "What?!" He jabbed him hard in the side. "Don't just keep it to yourself, idiot! Tell me!"

Red rubbed at his sore ribs, taking a deep breath and throwing his hands proudly on his hips when a sense of incredible intelligence flooded his senses and showed him what it felt like to finally be on top. "Sen said it herself, I just put two and two together to get to one word; injections. We know that once someone is injected with bad blood, they start deteriorating and it's irreversible, right?"

Purple frowned and tried to follow along, not seeing the point. "Uh…yeah?"

"That's what we'll do then to take down Del and Ipi! We'll inject them with a mixture of her blood," He shot a finger at Sen before turning it back on himself, "and _my_ blood! I never thought I'd say thank the Star Mother for giving me shit DNA, but thank you Universe!" He threw his hands wide and continued his giddy laughter before stooping down and scooping up their backpack to sling it over his shoulders. "Sen, where does Ipi think you are now?"

Sen thought a moment, struggling to slip her heels back on as Purple brought his hands to his mouth and ran over the plan with intense excitement, practically vibrating across the floor as he picked up his pacing once more. "She thinks I'm coming to find you and arrest you."

Red snapped and went for the door, ushering the two along as he moved. "Perfect! I want you to arrest us and make it convincing to get us both back in the Massive without suspicion. Del trusts you, I'm assuming, and you can bring us to him as prisoners of war."

Purple followed, bounding around their new half-dead frenemy and moving to stop Red in his tracks. "Red, aren't you thinking about this too fast? What happens when we get back to the Massive and Del throws us in the stronghold? There's now we'd be able to make it out of there without someone on the inside to hit the access code." He pointed out, throwing another wrench in Red's original plans. "Plus, we don't have any way to get close enough to Del to, uh, you know." He made a few stabbing motions and scrunched up his face as he pretended to gut the man who threw him in virtual prison for cycles.

Huh. Maybe he had a point.

Red thought back to his time on the gargantuan flagship, thinking back over each and every hall he waltzed in his thick soled boots and trying to pinpoint the stronghold in his mind. It was located in the belly of the vessel, a fortified plasma cage surrounded by hundreds of heavily armed guards dedicated to keeping the most hardened of war criminals contained and away from their Tallest. Del's personal quarters was at the pinnacle of the ship, some seventy floors up and overlooking a gargantuan observatory as he retired to sleep and dream under the stars. He was his most venerable there, from what Red could remember, and the narrow passageway to his chambers was also heavily guarded by the finest of the Elite. Commander Poki, his toughest recruit, patrolled the wing and maintained her rounds through all hours of the night until she was relieved for much needed rest while Del was at his command chair on the bridge during the day. Even there, he would be surrounded by thousands of navigators, pilots, and engineers all scrambling to keep the ship regulated and on course, keeping him perpetually shrouded in the watchful gaze of someone. Shit. And then there was the need for supplies that they most definitely didn't have at the moment; needles, PAK suspension systems to stimulate the flow of blood, vials, and a centrifuge to adequately combine Red's blood with Sen's noxious sludge.

Dammit, this would be a lot harder than he'd anticipated.

"What if we could somehow cut the power?" Purple suggested, dropping his voice to a low whisper and keeping a careful eye on Sen as she trudged along close by, still not trusting of her motives, as they wiggled by the front desk. He frowned in disappointment when Red dipped a hand in the tip jar and scrounged up whatever change he could from the bottom of the glass.

Red quickly stuffed his fast cash grab into the pocket of his jacket, holding open the door and groaning when Sen took her time to hobble along in her ridiculously clicking heels. "The power to the whole ship?" He mused, gingerly shutting it and shivering when they were met with a blast of arctic air.

Purple moved back over and hung close for Red's warming touch, happy when he once again took his hand and carefully led him down the icy steps of the front patio. Flicky raced around the side of the building and rooted through the snowy embankment, kicking up ice crystals as she screeched and sang her low, happy tune as her worry faded away and turned to something ecstatic. She pressed her gooey flank into Purple's side and tried to grab him with her piercing mandibles to tug him back into her extensive tunneling system as Red and Sen looked on in utter disgust, knowing full well they couldn't take a fully grown Schloripps with them to the Massive. Red strode forward and reached out to tenderly brush a hand along her coat, shrinking back when she shuddered and gyrated down into the snow to place his partner upright onto his feet when he politely told her no.

"Sorry, Flicky but…how do I say this…Red and I can't stay here with you." Purple mumbled, swiping a finger along her proboscis and watching as her expressionless, elongated eye stalks craned down to stare at him from above. "You've been fantastic to us both and you saved our lives twice now, so thank you. You're…y-you're so nice and jiggly like a jelly donut and I don't wanna leave you but I can't take you because you'll get hurt and…a-and…I don't like this! I don't like it anymore!"

Purple kicked at the snow with the toe of his boot and folded forward to plop into her side, listening to her booming breath expelling from her hard exoskeleton as she shivered into his touch. She already knew from the beginning, Red taking his distraught lover gingerly by the shoulders and pulling him away as Flicky gave him a final warbling hiss, lovingly grazing his antennae with her fur as she unfurled her massive wings and beat them in the gloom of the darkness, a final display of her devotion and kindhearted nature before she made it easy and raced off towards the treeline. The undergrowth welcomed her back as she sang and chirped, bringing a sad, but necessary close to their chapter together and releasing her back to the wild. Red held Purple close for a few seconds longer when he faltered and let his grip slip away from his shoulders, shielding him from the violent winds when Sen yelled something over the blizzard and ushered them all on towards the beautifully painted, glossy black ship she'd come after them in during their reuniting nearly a week in the past. Red turned on his heel, leading his partner on towards the unknown and sighing long and low under his breath when the terrible realization of what was to come hitched in his chest and burned like a star. They were declaring war on the Irken Empire and uprooting thousands upon thousands of cycles of traditional Irken values to take on the formidable powerhouse that Del had become. He let Purple go first, watching him clatter up the metal steps of the main hatch as it fazed open to meet them and gripping at the icy guardrail when he realized there was no going back from this now. They would never be the same…never be looked upon with grace by the Control Brains…never be looked upon the same by their own people. No, this was death, and death was irreparable.

They were assassinating the Almighty Tallest.

Were they really ready for this?

* * *

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING, AND I CAN'T WAIT TO GO TO WAR WITH THE NEXT CHAPTER! Let's just say...things don't always go according to plan. I love writing high velocity action scenes with blood and guts and screaming and all of that juicy drama, so I'm gonna deliver a big shebang with chapter 19 ;) Stay tuned!

**Next Update: Wednesday, April 1, 2020 by 10:00 pm CDT (UTC -5).** Sometimes I get posts done before 10, so they may go up sooner as I learn to type faster! Thank you!

Now I'm going to go write my other ongoing piece, You, Plus Me, Equals Three and get back into the swing of writing comedy and little smeets. Sorry again, Larrimeme, for the wait! I got so wrapped up in things that I genuinely forgot but I have not forgotten your prompt and Zil is gonna give her gay dads hell! :D  
Love, Charlie


	19. Go Get Him

Hello and welcome back to our next chapter of Fire in the Snow! I want to personally thank you all for your support in these hard times when I got sick, and I promise that I'll be ok, I've just been having some trouble focusing. I pushed off this chapter for two days because I wanted to make sure that the content I gave you was my best, and I really, really do appreciate your patience! I love you all, and I hope you're ready for some angst!

As a side note; I have definitely not forgotten about the request for an explicit sex scene (there will be more than one) or for a specific life or death angst scene. Both are coming! I just have to make sure they fit into the flow of the story, and I really want to make them SHABAM moments! Love you all and I read all of your reviews and take them all into account because they mean the world to me! Thanks for the feedback and I really do love having you all around!

_NOTE: FANFICTION IS CURRENTLY HAVING AN INTERNAL ISSUE IVE NOTICED WHERE IT'S OMITTING SOME LINES_. I found one line in here that is omitted, and it shows up in my document but doesn't show up in the story correctly about Sen's father, so I wanted to put in a note about that just in case you see it and are like "huh. wierd." I also think it's very wierd but I've emailed support to try and get it fixed! (4/5/2020)

**Chapter rated M for graphic depictions of blood/violence/gore, perilous themes, brief heavy language, suggestive themes, and general adult content!**

* * *

Hours?

Hours.

Purple shot up, knocking Red aside on accident and watching as he slumbered himself back down over the worn leather of the plush bench they had been reclining upon. Where were they? What time was it? Why did he suddenly feel so rested? What was that humming? Was that…music? He winced when Red's cheek collided hard with his lap and went completely deadweight, grumbling under his breath and stretching back over the beauty of the dark wood interior of the opulent ship he'd been held in as a fictitious captive for Irk knows how long now. It was gorgeous and expensive with immaculate gold leaf dotting accents and side tables as they lazed and buzzed leisurely through the cosmos over the smoothest warp jump he'd ever had the privilege of experiencing, glancing groggily to the wide expanse of windshield several feet away to admire the swirl and eddy of incredible color whizzing by as they traversed insurmountable distance. A single hand tapped impatiently over the rubbery grip of the clutch, silently running along each and every seam and bopping along to something angry and rebellious playing softly in the background to their once peaceable sleep. Wait…this was…

Purple swallowed, going back on his defensive guard when he realized where they were and who was transporting them and cursing himself under his breath for having fallen asleep so easily in his exhausted fugue, reaching down in a flash and grabbing Red to hold him close like a stuffed toy, beyond irritated when he merely rolled over and returned the embrace with a faint, sleepy smile and continued to dream whatever imaginative nonsense was going through his confusing labyrinth of a mind. Ugh. The guy could sleep through the apocalypse and still be content. At least he wouldn't move when they finally got a place or shout at him when he would accidentally kick him through the night. He ran a palm up the side of Red's cheek and tightened his hold once more when the split, nauseating gaze of their once enemy turned something he didn't understand swiveled in her chair and crossed her long, wiry legs, reaching up to snap with her free hand for the ship to go on autopilot and automatically follow the telltale ping of the Massive calling out them like a siren from afar. He glanced up to the control panel hovering over the hooded face of the zombified mess that would hopefully be their salvation, swallowing when he noticed they were almost to the gargantuan metallic prison that had held him for two grueling cycles. No. He had just gotten away from this place…he had just freed himself and tasted the dangers and the pleasures of being loved for the first time, and he was expected to go back and potentially relinquish the overpowering need to run that lit him up like sizzling kerosene? He growled and averted his gaze back to his feet when Sen looked him up and down, impulsively toying with Red's limp, buzzing antennae for some sense of tender self-comfort and habitually preening them as opposite sex lovers typically did in Irken society, sighing long and low when he couldn't find the words to call back to the three glittering black eyes beating into him like a red hot poker. It hurt. It hurt so much and festered in the pit of his chest to form a choking lump in the back of his still raw throat the more he thought about returning to the figurative den of snarling beasts and shadowy graves waiting to swallow them all whole under the booming laughter of Del's hideous smirk. He would never let them get close enough to inject him with a mixture of Red and Sen's blood and would undoubtedly up his formidable security beyond anything Purple himself had ever seen, knowing it would be harrowing and nearly impossible to break through the best of the Irken Elite. Was this all hopeless? Sen said something from afar that he didn't register in his own spiraling discomfort, letting his overwhelmed gaze trail up his knees and land on the beautifully relaxed visage of his partner hitching gently in his sleep as he battled demons and angels alike and became the most feared and loved man in all of the universe. He reached out and ran a smooth, featherlight brush over his lips, shying back when Red scrunched up his face with a grumble and tried to flip himself, giving up halfway and resorting to loosely wrapping an arm around Purple's waist to unconsciously latch his claws into the fabric of his Callnowian jacket. He felt a tiny smile peak on his face at how utterly ridiculous Red actually looked, wrapped in sickening pink fabric and even more pathetically girly leggings dotted with warm fuzz; he looked so comfortable and cozy, using Purple as a makeshift pillow as he lazed and drooled through his heavy cognition for the first good sleep he'd had since their ordeal had begun. It was crazy how someone so seemingly undesirable could be so perfect…so kindhearted under all that anger and pent up aggression. He was the embodiment of revenge, the steely fire of karma laying waste to the demonic, icy fingers of the Tallest they had both looked up to as a hero once, melting him with his sweltering crimson stare and ripping out his throat with a single, booming plasma shot from the barrel of the custom pistol Sen had limped over to set silently before them, followed by a second. Purple took a deep breath and reluctantly flicked up to meet what was left of her eyes, wincing at the incredible determination he was met with and feeling his own adrenaline spike in his system when he ran over the plan they'd all discussed before they had fallen asleep.

One; infiltrate the ship by pretending to be Sen's prisoners. She would bind and gag them both for good measure and believability, escorting them to the bridge to show them off as her special prize and a gift to the esteemed Tallest Del as what he would hopefully perceive as her need to show that she finally accepted him as her new father figure. They would then be forced down to the dank, disgusting holding chambers of the Massive's brig where they would begin to count out five minutes. In that time, Sen would find an excuse to slip away to the medical bay, forcibly remove a vial of her blood through the use of a stolen syringe and return to the bridge where she would distract Del by fabricating the threat of rebel hacking, pretending that the ship was being overridden by his enemies and effectively cutting the power. With the ship completely offline, Purple and Red would then be able to slip away from their bonds and pull free the carefully concealed Callnowian micro-pistols that would be hidden by harness along their hips, and hopefully not taken away during Del's potential order to check them for weaponry, blasting their way through the dark with the help of Red's artificial ocular implants as they ruthlessly fought back to the bridge where Sen would then stab Red with a free syringe and inject her adopted father with the mixture of both of their blood. It would happen at blinding speeds, a virtual coup and hostile takeover of everything they had ever known the Irken Empire to be as they stomped on the personal golden flag sporting Del's two sickening eyes and transformed them into a mixture of vibrant cherry and dominating lavender. Then…wait.

Then what?

They'd be able to murder Del once his blood had been chemically changed to something immoral and undead and had the once incredible immortality taken from him to be replaced with dust, but…what would happen when he was gone? They hadn't thought that far or ever really talked about it in detail in the short time that they had all been allied, leaving that rapidly approaching eventuality shrouded in the veil of terrifying, unknown mystery that threw a wrench in Purple's already sporadic confidence. He was once set to be Del's tall successor for his incredible success and mind-blowing intelligence in the Academy followed by his prospects as his apparent son-in-law by marrying his adopted daughter, all of which was now blatantly disturbing once he actually thought about what he almost got himself into, but would he…would he still be Tallest? Red had flippantly expressed a passive interest in taking the command chair, but Purple knew in the back of his mind that his idiot of a partner wanted more than just to lead. He wanted the status, the authority, the power to crush anyone beneath the toe of his steel boot as he strolled the bridge and raked through the Universe with enough force to blind a star, taking what he felt his people rightfully deserved and taking over every long lost empire that had beat back against his own citizens in the past and claimed that they were anything but excellent. He hated it and he expressed it vocally in his many fervent, determination filled speeches and the shine of his resolute, unwavering gaze taking Purple's soul and reviving it from the blackness he'd unwittingly slipped into.

Maybe Red could be Tallest.

He had the witty banter down and had tons of external experience with the toils that life had thrown their way, but…how would he be able to handle the social aspect of the job? He wasn't exactly a saint and, if Purple was being blatantly honest with himself, was quite awful at opening up to express himself with words, a necessary skill that would be needed should he have to address the wide-eyed public or speak off of a teleprompter before his advisory team. Without the ability to speak eloquently, his approval ratings would surely falter and die away sooner rather than later as he lost the support of each of Irk's eighteen separate regions one by one when they turned their antennae up to laugh in his direction. He was setting himself up for early-onset failure should he refuse, or simply not understand, how to improve himself and Purple couldn't let him crash and burn because of his own misunderstandings towards the inner workings of the political realm he'd lived since his stripping from the Academy. Maybe…they could be Tallest together? He could take on the socio-political aspect of the Empire while Red blazed through and opened up raging wars throughout the cosmos, paving the way for a formidable team beyond anything that their more than worthy planet had ever had the privilege to witness. After all, Miyuki and Spork had ruled together.

Ugh, no. They were married. There was no way that the Control Brains, even when they found Del to be in violation of imperial law, would ever approve two mere idiots casually dating to enter into something as serious as the seat of Tallest together without a real commitment.

There was no way.

Purple reached out and ran his bare palm over the smooth grip of his pistol when Sen cleared her gooey throat, feeling his jaw clench on impulse as he took it up and averted the plasma coil to the floor, squinting down the sight and scoffing when he realized how poorly made it was. Had Sen modified these herself?

"The sight is messed up. How am I supposed to aim with something like this?" He asked, forcing himself to try and relax when Red stretched with a peep over his lap and let his waist go.

Sen wavered on her feet when the ship jerked and lurched unexpectedly, flying up to grip at the safety railing dangling above her. "I-It's not messed up! Don't you know how to use a Callnowian sight, you uncultured little insect?" She reached down when the turbulence died away and fumbled to snatch the pistol back with a hot grumble, pressing a tiny switch along the side to free a concealed laser sight from within the casing. "There, you see? It's completely fine!"

Purple extended a hand out of curiosity and took the weapon back, examining it once more and rolling his eyes when he realized the scope was still off by more than two ridiculous inches. "You're kidding, right? Haven't you ever heard of the term 'doping your scope?'" He extended a single, sharp PAK leg, snickering when Sen panicked and stumbled back before quickly catching her breath in humiliation and cursing under her breath when she realized he was using the narrow tip as a makeshift screwdriver to correct the poor configuration on his weapon, intermittently checking it as he went. "From what I've seen, most weapons in our neck of the starsystem follow the same configuration and are based on old Vortian engineering, meaning you can adjust the accuracy of your scope by tightening and loosening it with these two little screws here." He pointed them out with a claw, strangely happy when his ex-fiancé decided to pay attention for once. "If your laser and your scope don't line up, you're not gonna be able to aim and it'll be the life or death of you."

Sen nodded along with his explanation, bringing her now deteriorating fingers to her still plush lips as he spoke. "Huh…I guess I hadn't thought of that. Forgive me, Nemi, I wasn't necessarily built for combat. Everything I know, I know from my father, and not that tall creature my mother tried to pawn off on me as a replacement for my _real_ father." She sneered, returning to the pilot's seat when Purple snatched for Red's pistol to scrutinize it as well, slipping free the electronic cartridge and passively listening to her miniature rant. "Del would visit mother in secret for their idiotic love making. It was so impromptu and disgusting and I never saw him as my father no matter how many gifts he gave me or-" She trailed off when she noticed the obvious tremble in Purple's hands as he slammed the clip back into the side and proceeded to distract himself by fumbling with the grip. "Are you…are you nervous?"

"Why would I be nervous?" He snapped back quicker than he had originally anticipated, swallowing down a sudden wave of anxiety induced nausea as he took a deep, calming breath. "We're only going back to the one place that I hate more than any other, and facing the only other living monster that tried to ruin me over and over again, so of _course_ I'm not nervous."

Sen narrowed her eyes and turned on her heel, moving back to the pilot's seat and slinging herself down with a snort of disdain. "You don't have to be so condescending about everything. I'm trying to help you, and this is the only way that you're going to be able to have the pathetic freedom you think you want."

Purple tightened his grip once more, gingerly slipping free and lowering Red down on the bench before standing and stomping his way over to throw a hot finger in Sen's face as she sputtered at the sudden dangerous shift to the atmosphere. "Why do you have to act so privileged all the time? You grew up with everything and yeah, I had a pretty decent life myself until it was taken away, but don't act like you know me just because we were supposed to get married!" He moved back and positioned himself next to his still somehow slumbering partner to run his hands over his cheeks for his own comfort. "You've had freedom your whole life and you've never been forced into what I've had to do. I've serviced men I don't know. I've given my blood against my will. All I've done is give, and give, and give to you and your people and you take without realizing what it does to people like me!"

"And all _you_ do is complain that you've been wronged! Yeah, alright, I'm sorry you had to go through that, I really am, but do you really think I wanted to marry some Irken from millions of lightyears away that I never knew? I was sat down in front a book with thousands of men and told to choose based on your looks alone. I picked Styx because he was handsome and I picked you because I thought out of all of them you would be…w-would be nice to me. You had such a kind face." Sen faltered a bit at her decision, gripping at the clutch as they neared the end of their warp cycle and preparing for the inevitable docking she would have to undergo to pull them into the Massive. "I was with Styx for nearly a cycle and I truly tried to make it work because I wanted to love him but you can't force love on someone you know hates you from the look in their eyes. I wanted to move on and get over my own fear of being someone's pet and having to give in to everything that Mother wanted all because I was the catalyst to bring our Empire closer to yours! You're not the only one who got the short end of the stick here." Sen took a deep breath and continued, softening her tone when she realized she was being a bit too harsh. "I look at you and I can't stand to see your idiotic face screaming back at me because all I see is the future I was supposed to have but never wanted in the first place. I wanted to marry someone I loved instead of having to put on a smile and mate with parts I don't understand that are different from anything I've ever seen and inject myself with the blood of someone I had to sleep next to every night without consent. I don't want to downplay your pain, because I know how bad it hurts myself, but…we all need to bring that anguish together and find ways to channel it into the revolution that we're opening up because like it or not, we're all that we have now."

Purple didn't know what to say, slumping back and bracing himself when they ricocheted out of warp to slingshot around a nearby asteroid for speed, gripping into the plush leather of the seat beneath him for leverage when they shuddered and were hit with the sudden back-blow of the Massive's electromagnetic field rippling out in arduous waves. His gaze snapped up as his pulse quickened in his veins, finally catching sight of the terror he'd come to loathe with every fiber of his being; glassy, immaculate hull, magenta side pods filled to the brim with heavy canons, and an expensive viewing port where his greatest enemy stood proud and tall to look over everything he perceived as his own. Sen's words echoed in his mind and settled heavy in the pit of his spooch, cluing him into the horrendous wrongdoings that were wrought upon the Callnowian people in tandem all because two fated lovers wanted to cheat death and take.

Take.

All anyone in this existence did was take.

Maybe it was Purple's turn to wrap his claws around delicate throats, to stomp out the light of life and scream through his blistering, mind-numbing exasperations as he waded through every single being who had wronged him like a dark god. Ugh…what was he saying? Here reached back to Red's boot and fumbled with his poorly tied laces, grumbling to himself at the sheer ineptness of his partner to function on a daily basis. This was why he was doing this; the prospect of freedom for them all….the prospect of feeling loved again. It wasn't for the violence, it wasn't for the revenge, and he had to keep himself in check before he slipped down the same path his vexing enemies had taken. He was above them, he was figuratively taller, and he was going to win this war.

* * *

Red sighed himself awake when he felt two hands land at his hips to pull up his jacket and sling a scratchy harness around his waist, latching it in the front and shoving a micro-pistol in the holster before tugging his clothing back down to conceal their failsafe. He smiled, in his groggy fugue state, running his hands up along the two scaly wrists fitting him with equipment and purring at the idea that he was being awoken by the one man he'd come to…wait….scales? He blinked and let his eyes flutter open, scrambling back with a sudden yelp when he realized it was Sen's half-rotten flesh grazing over his, batting wildly at her fingers as he shuddered and stuck out his tongue to the unclean sensation of being felt up by his nasty ex-fiance and her gooey, putrid claws. No thank you! Purple held back a laugh to the side, tightening his own harness around his slim figure and tapping impatiently along the grip of his own weapon as he admired the strange scene unfolding and giving him a bit of needed hilarity to the terror they were about to endure.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty." He kidded, reaching out and flicking Red's antennae when he shot a hot look back and pouted, crossing his arms over his chest and staring at the far wall. "Fantastic for you to finally get up from your lazy streak and help us."

"Shut up! I was tired from dragging your sorry ass around." Red barked back in humiliation, finally, but quite reluctantly, standing when Sen motioned harshly for him to get up. He popped his back with a needed, warm stretch, doing a double take when he realized they where they had ended up. "Holy…is that what I think it is?"

Shit.

They were in the process of connecting to one of the thousands of docking pods dotting the side of the gargantuan flagship he'd come to call his home during the past six months he'd spent posing as a general, swallowing when he realized he'd have to jump back into that role once more as a prisoner. Ugh…this would be humiliating. He already knew his pride would be crushed under Sen's brazen torment and wasn't looking forward to the agonizing look of disappointment flashing over his false friend, Del's, face when he realized that his favorite officer had betrayed him so wholly. How funny would it be when he realized they'd never been friends in the first place but rather the worst of enemies deep down, dancing around one another as Red molded his pathetically soft emotions like clay into something beautiful before shattering them like fragile pottery. Ha. It was his fault for being so ignorant in the first place. But, Red knew better than anyone, except Purple, how utterly cruel Del could be when his button's were pushed one too many times or when he felt his position was threatened. He'd watched his former Tallest brand service drones with his PAK lasers, slicing through their skin when they brought him the wrong drink or mixed it improperly. He'd drowned advisors in blistering hot bromine baths when false rumors about their insolence circulated from the others, a way to get rid of competition through the permanent use of death and destruction to prop up their own agendas. It was hideous, immoral, and went against everything that the sanctity of Tallest was supposed to uphold, but still no one batted an eye because of Del's constant prancing in front of the Control Brains and their favoritism towards his apparently benevolent, warmhearted nature. Lies. All of it.

Red blinked when he felt his hands taken into Purple's before melting into the swift, tiny kiss peppered against his cheek like a feather before he was spun on his heel and forced to throw his wrists behind his back, a single set of tight, electronic handcuffs slung around his wrists. Purple shoved a crack key into his palm before pressing the switch along the titanium and unleashing the full extend of the restraint, enclosing his partner's hands completely in harsh, cold metal and immobilizing him as his own apprehensions bubbled in his thoughts. This was happening. This was seriously happening and he wasn't ready for it. Then again, Red would never be ready for something like this, thinking back to the dozens of times he was forced into cuffs by police of all species for his many improvised heists, snickering when he remembered how he and his family had broken themselves free each and every chance they got. This one would be for them, the image of Tak wildly screaming to the heavens hitching and blooming in his mind as they raced along alleyways together with armfuls of stolen bread and juice and evaded capture, returning to their waiting friends back in their ship and racing off into the shimmering stars. Would she be proud? Would she be happy that he was finally on the path to his _own_ happiness? Red shook the thought away, turning when Purple kicked his legs apart and cuffed his ankles with a wince at how painful a stance it looked, not that Red wasn't used to restraint. This would be a cakewalk. He was more worried about Purple, watching as he hissed and grumbled in discomfort to the feeling of his shoulders nearly slipping free from their sockets when Sen reached forward and yanked him back to begin their long awaited, wholly terrifying mission and immobilize him the same way. He looked like he was in constant pain, scrunching up his face to the tenderness of the cuff seam rubbing his poor, uncalloused wrists raw but never once opening his mouth to complain when he realized this was the only way.

This was the only way.

Red held is breath, opening his mouth when he was fitted with a muzzle and instructed to bite down on the bar, the straps swiftly adjusted around his jawline and cutting off his loud, protesting voice when Sen giggled and flicked his antennae before moving off to do the same with his partner. He could hardly move besides the occasional roll of his rotary cuff in a weak attempt to stimulate blood flow to the site when he felt his forearms go distressingly numb, ready to get this horrific show on the road and get out of these awful restraints before he lost his mind. Ok, ok, the plan was simple enough. Go to the dungeons and count to five minutes. Wait for the power to go out and meet Sen on the bridge to take down Del. But what if he moved? What if he was taken by escape pod somewhere else in the height of the confusion? What if he suspected Sen of treason and threw her in captivity with them all as well? There was so much that could go wrong on this mission, so much that could get Purple killed in the heat of the action he knew his powerful partner had once expressed interest in seeing but now obviously wanted to just go home and live out his life in peace. Red was tired himself, tired of running from the law and physically exhausted from the strenuous nature of laying low and evading capture. The sleep had helped his form recuperate as what was left of his wounds sealed and disappeared, but his mind was still on fire and struggling to rationalize through what exactly it was they were getting themselves into. Red talked a big game and like to spout hatred back at the government, but now that he was met with the opportunity to take down everything that he despised, he was a little anxious about how well this was really going to go. He didn't care in the slightest what happened to Sen, but if Purple was wounded in combat or taken from him…he didn't know what he would do. They were in a budding relationship now, but Red was always miles down the road ahead of what he was sure Purple felt, his love having had months to cultivate over time and terrify him into submission at the thought of Purple vanishing from his vision or not being able to save him from the fate they were potentially walking into. He frowned around his bit, glancing to the side as Purple relaxed his jaw and swallowed around the intrusive metal splitting his teeth and making him drool unnecessarily, rolling his eyes back at Red with a tiny head shake to try and make light of the hazardous mission they were throwing themselves into. He had never told Purple that he loved him. He'd only insinuated it before through reassurance and sweet kisses, never once opening up the profound conversation about the future he definitely wanted more than anything out of fear that it would be far too soon and he'd lose his chance at happiness, but now that they were sprinting headfirst into the blazing fires of hell, he wondered if he should have told him sooner. It was a virtual nose dive, Sen grabbing them each by the arm and straightening her disintegrating spine as she limped her way towards the main hatch to thrust it open with her foot and smile up at her two tall prisoners attempting to psyche themselves up into the sweat-beading, pulse pounding, mind-razing threat of demise staring back in their pale faces.

"Alright, boys! Here we go."

* * *

Purple couldn't think. Everything moved in slow motion as he became painfully aware of the pistol digging into his ribcage under his jacket, flinching in sudden terror at the haughty laugh Sen barreled back at them when they were met with a group of Elite guards awaiting their transport, watching in confusion as she snatched Red first with more force than he'd expected and nearly forced him to his knees in a humiliating display of power. Purple was next, trying to shy back when he realized that they'd made a chilling mistake at the look Sen blinked in his direction, only calming when she snatched him by the jaw to spit directly in his face and pelt him with metallic blood before giving him a tiny wink. Huh. This was all for show. Even so, did she have to be so sadistically harsh?

"Hello, my darlings!" She sang sweetly to the group of appreciative guards fawning over her and shrinking back when they noticed her half obliterated jaw hanging to the wind. "Oh honeys, you don't have to stare. I know I'm the vision of perfection to your small little minds, but I'm here on a very important mission. As you know, my men were able to capture the traitor, General Styx from the Alpha Company, and the defector, Successor Nemi, from the capitol city of Bornau. They've been causing all kinds of trouble for Prime Minister Ipi and myself, and I would like to personally deliver them to Almighty Tallest Del for trial and," Sen licked what was left of her lips with a saccharine hum, "execution by whatever means necessary."

With that, she was saluted when four stoic faced guards clad in the thickest armor Purple had ever seen fell in at their side to look him over for the first time since he'd been exposed on the Massive. They looked almost sorry for him, lingering against his eyecolor for a few moments before grabbing him as delicately by the side as they could and leading him forward in line with Red who received rougher treatment. It was annoying how everyone automatically assumed he was delicate, claws hanging back and keeping free from his flesh as Red was unfortunately subjected to saliva smacking against his cheeks and a slew of names before a young recruit ventured enough courage to show off to his friends by raring back with a brutal laugh before connecting hard with Red's jaw. Purple tried to shout back in irate, white-hot anger, struggling against his restraints but finding them stuck fast against his forearms as Red coughed behind the intrusive, choking metal in his mouth and shook the urge to pass out from the back of his eyes, a thin trail of bright pink blood oozing lazily from the corner of his mouth where the bit had sliced through his lip. Ugh, why couldn't this just be easy? With that he was tugged back to his feet and forced to walk ahead of Purple a few feet as if he were being ruthlessly paraded as an example of what would happen if anyone were to take on the prowess of Del himself, kicking him around corners and grabbing him angrily by the antennae to snap his head back when he tried to look down and avoid the shocked gazes of former coworkers and friends he'd made along the way, effectively breaking Purple's heart when he noticed the whispers of disappointment uttered through each corridor and hallway they traversed on their way to the bridge.

_Is that General Styx? What's he doing in restraints?_

_ Didn't you hear? He murdered Advisor Lire and stole the consort Tallest Del was giving to Callnowia._

_ You're kidding! Why the hell would he steal Empire property like that?_

_ Rumor is they've been having an affair for the past six months under our Tallest's antennae. _

_ Phew, man. I wouldn't wanna be Styx right now if that's true._

Murdered Lire? Did no one here understand that Lire was a literal monster who molested Purple for almost two cycles? He wanted his voice back so he could yell at every curious bystander that thought they had an inkling of what was happening, to thrust their faces into the floor and scream out praise for Red and his cause. He'd saved him and taken him away from the life he never thought he'd be able to leave before showing him what love felt like…if it was love…n-no, Purple was sure of it. It was love. This was love. Red would go to the ends of the Universe for him and back and never once regret the dangerous and mind-numbing agonies he would surely face along the way, and Purple would do the same for him should the time arise. He cared about his partner beyond a level lingering on the surface of his skin, knowing deep in his weary psyche that the only reason he was here was to pacify the dangers threatening that tall, sometimes stupidly immature, beauty being forced through the gargantuan main hatch to the bridge. No, this was all happening so fast! He needed more time to prepare and work through these feelings of residual trauma blooming behind his eyes as Purple felt his breathing escalate to something swimmy and dizzying his wild gaze bouncing from the engineering deck to the wide-eyed navigation's team wondering who he was and what his role with their once favorite, faux general was. He felt sick, felt the sting of thousands of hits slamming into his sensitive bones to crack their surface but never go as far as to cleanly shatter them, felt the burn in his lungs from the terrifying sensation of drowning when he was waterboarded against his will for eating something he wasn't allowed or talking to a kind service drone in passing. He glanced down the way and froze in his tracks before he was pushed through the hatch to follow after his equally terrified, but boilingly irate, partner, catching sight of the lock pad on the door he had been forced to linger behind for two long cycles of mind-crushing torture and sexual favors that kept him from feeling whole. Don't dissociate. Keep your wits about you and keep going forward. He wanted to run far away from this excruciatingly painful place and make it to the Green with Red where they could forget about the Empire completely and live together in tiny quarters they could call their own and cook each other delicious meals at night that weren't just instant noodles. They could say whatever they wanted, feel whatever they wanted, and heal at their own pace. Maybe…m-maybe they would lie together for cozy, lazy mornings as they opened up rounds of sweet pillow talk and held each other close never again to reminisce about the sheer horrors of the Irken Empire bearing down on their shoulders like an anvil. But that wouldn't happen. The only way that he would ever be able to take Red away from this place and save his dammed soul was to go through with this plan and face the tall, immaculately armored entity flicking his dastardly, nauseating antennae forward to scent at the air and pick up on the intensity of their fear.

Del.

He was so beautiful, the picture of Irken excellence at it's utmost finest and slathered head to toe in gorgeous gold titanium to match his opulent eye color, the hem of his fluttering robes barely skirting the main platform as he glided above the same ground his subjects walked to portray himself as nothing more than a deity. His once youthful face was strained with age but he wore it well, each and every line in his forehead and dotting his well-rested eyes a mark of his incredibly soft lifestyle but the habitual twitch in his deep, seemingly kind eyes offered a tiny peek into the unstable monstrosity that he truly was inside. Purple couldn't look away, feeling a single tear prick in the corner of his vision and hastily blinking it away when he realized how much effort he was going to have to put forth to keep himself from unraveling, watching as Sen strode forward and threw her arms out to welcome her adopted father into an incredibly convincing, honied embrace. He laughed a bellowing laugh and held her back, rubbing affectionately over her shoulders before pressing her back to look her from head to toe and remain oddly unperturbed to the obvious disarray of a void she had spiraled down into. Instead he grazed over her good cheek, wiping her blood along his untainted robes before nodding with pride back at her.

"It's been quite some time since I've seen your beautiful face, Sen. How are you?" He asked genuinely, glancing over to her shoulder in satisfaction when one of his guards kicked Red in the back of the knee and forced him to his stomach, digging their heel into the small of his back as he squirmed and tried to fight off the advance to no avail. "I see that you've brought me some gifts! Thank you so much, sweetheart, and I'm sorry that my General has caused you so much trouble."

General? He still hadn't caught on that Red was a rebel?

Purple blinked with a muffled yelp when he was yanked back against his will, stumbling to keep his balance and freezing as his blood ran cold to the feeling of his restraints being gingerly peeled away. He felt his arms fall to his sides as he stared down in guttural shock at Red who struggled to scream something back in terrified, shaky warning around the metal clenched in his teeth, watching in tear-streaked horror as Purple was tugged free from his bone-crushing bonds and taken by the hand to the steps of the bridge by a kind table-headed drone beaming up at him as if he were the purest soul in the galaxy.

What?

W-What?!

This wasn't how the plan was supposed to go! He was supposed to be thrown in the brig with Red and his partner was supposed to use his crack key to free them both so they could fight their way through Del's team like heroes! This…this was strange. This was eerie and phantomlike, setting a sharp, agonizing hook in Purple spooch when he was stood up to shake in his boots before the leader who had started it all. He shook his head as his mind raced and shattered, leaving him with no plan b when Red was violently tugged up and taken hard by the throat by the suffocating glove of a commander as he writhed and begged to get away and reach out for to escape with Purple as his world crumbled. No. No. No. Please, anything but separation. Anything but separation! Purple couldn't think, taking an erratic step back and going to sprint after Red as he struggled growled his way through the main hatch and out of sight, two firm gauntlets landing to squeeze down hard on his collarbone as he yelled.

"Red! R-Red I'll find you! I-I promise I'll-" He gagged when Del moved a hand to his neck and clamped down, holding him still and snapping calmly with his free hand as Sen panicked and tried to fight her way out of the sudden, unanticipated set of strong arms around her waist hoisting her up and carrying her back off the bridge.

Sen kicked and screeched in hot Callnowian, loosing her heels as she thrashed and was carted away against her will after Red to leave Purple completely at the mercy of Del and his horrendously shady will. As her voice echoed and died away to nothing more than a faint mumble in the distance, Del relaxed his hold and instead moved his hands back to Purple's shoulders to massage his long fingertips into the slowly flowering bruise left on his trachea as he tried to double over and violently cough through the pain.

"How could something so tall be so sweet?" Del asked with a laugh, slinging an arm around his waist and lowering himself to the ground so he could stride in time with Purple when he tried to shove him off. "Why don't we go and have a little chat about this plan to overthrow me? Sounds like you and your General put in a lot of effort with my daughter to take me down, but I want you to know that won't be happening today."

"W-What…? What are you talking about?! Let me go!" Purple cried out, frantically screeching and fighting against hit Tallest's powerful hands when he scooped him up against his will and shoved him up under his arm when he tried to bite. "Let go of me go! L-Let me GO!"

"No, I think I'm going to hold onto you for a little while, my flower." Del hummed, blinking in the low light and nodding for a wildly uncomfortable advisor to take his place during his absence on the bridge. "You're so thin these days; why don't we go to my private quarters and have some pastries? I can warm them up for you and we'll sort this out like functioning adults, alright? How does that sound?"

No.

No.

No.

This wasn't happening.

This wasn't happening.

This wasn't happening.

Purple felt like his voice had been stolen, swallowing it down in the back of his throat and going into another pattern of mind-numbing dissociation as colors began to blend and turn to something erroneous and formless and…and…

_Come on, Pur, you can do this._

Red?

Purple blinked and felt his spooch drop when the ghost of a familiar voice hit him directly in the PAK, memories bubbling up in his code and pacifying everything he was afraid of in favor of the undying, soft, tender love that he'd been shown in the past few days by the man who had tried to protect him from the beginning. He could do this. He had to do this.

It was his turn to protect Red.

* * *

Red sputtered and coughed when his gag was removed and his restraints tugged away, growling and yelping like a caged animal when he was tossed like a ragdoll into a glass holding pod and swiftly trapped against his will by a commander he didn't recognize. Dammit! Purple was up there by himself trapped with the monster he was trying to destroy and Irk knows what was happening to him! Red reared back, pressing his claws against the far wall before getting a running start and screaming as he slammed ruthlessly into his pen, faltering and slipping when he felt every capillary in his shoulder burst and immediately bruise but uncaring to the agony. He sputtered and pushed himself up, his white-hot anger blinding him into submission and drawing a primordial snarl from his lips when he limped back and tried once more. Again he failed, reaching up and scraping his palm down the impervious glass when a choked, furious sob wracked his body and curled him subconsciously into a ball. Nothing was right in his world anymore. There was no more lavender to stare back at and giggle about stupid jokes with. There was no more cooking stupid, pointless meals for his love and watching him perk up at the taste. There were no more untainted hands trailing his waist when he felt unworthy.

He couldn't keep him safe.

He couldn't keep him happy.

Red really was unworthy…wasn't he?

He didn't bother glancing up when a familiar voice rang out in his limp, hopeless antennae, his senses clouded with despair and a deep ache of self-animosity that wouldn't go away the more he imagined what Del was doing to Purple just a few floors up. He had to get out of here. He had to find a way to get free so he could get to him and take him away lightcycles away from this place. It didn't matter if their lives would be full of running anymore; if running meant Purple would survive and live to smile back at him another day than Red would take the brunt of whatever he had and steal for the rest of his miserable life just to see his partner's flourish. The pod directly next to his swung open and slammed with the vicious sound of Callnowian drowned out by his wild pulse thumping in his ears, drawing a pathetically weak jolt from his shoulders as he shuddered and audibly sobbed into the sterile floor, throwing out his PAK legs for one final attempt as he gained a burst of desperate, frantic energy and fired on impulse. Blazing hot plasma ricocheted back and slammed into his shoulder blade to sear at his skin and melt ruthlessly through his jacket as he screamed and wailed out his unbearable anger, fusing the polyester fabric to his skin but the pain of anything physical unsurmountable to what was hatching in his mind.

Boom. They'd taken his chances of graduating.

Boom. They'd taken his citizenship.

Boom. They'd led him to take his eyecolor.

Boom. They'd taken his status.

Boom! They'd taken his freedom!

_Boom_! They'd taken his family!

_Boom_! They'd taken his _soulmate_!

Lasers fell away and went limp, hands moved to knees, breath caught and stifled. Fear. So much fear. Loneliness. So much unbearable loneliness. He'd promised Purple he'd be safe. He promised him he would never let him down and Red had let him go to the clutches of icy, unforgiving death just like he'd done to Tak and Skoodge and tiny Zim. They were his family, and he loved them. He loved them with all his soul and every fiber of his being and he'd let them go all for his own insolence and inability to keep them safe. And now…now he'd led Purple right into the lion's den with his stupid idea to inject Del with his blood.

He'd led him right back and lost him forever.

"Styx?! Styx! Get up! You have to get up and get to him before Del does something!"

Red weakly glanced up from his fingers, barely making out the panicked, terrified shape of Sen banging with all her might on her own holding chamber for his attention, gooey blood rushing free from her destroyed veins with every clout. Her…he'd never seen her like this. She was frightened, appalled, terrified beyond belief that Del was going to win and their cause would be snuffed out like a tiny, insignificant candle. Why? Why did she still think he could do this after all this time? Hadn't he already proved that he was incapable of functioning in the smart man's world? He was an idiot and yet…yet she didn't think so.

She didn't think so. Purple didn't think so. Tak and Skoodge and Zim hadn't thought so.

Ipi had called him a flea. Del had called him stupid. Lire had laughed in his face as he raped his partner. But through it all, the shining stars of life and the ethereal radiance of love had peaked through the cloudy days of torment and agony to kiss at his face and tell him it was alright.

Why? Why else had he made it this far if not to keep going? But would he even have the chance to keep going? He finally met Sen's eyes, watching as she pressed her forehead to the glass and let it fog with her tainted, noxious breath. She glanced up and pointed to a tiny air hatch directly above his head, watching with genuine, heartfelt determination when he wiped his eyes on the back of his palm and uttered one final sentence that solidified Red's need to make this right.

"Get to him."

* * *

Oh boy! Part one of our descent into madness is done! I hope that you guys enjoy, and _**regardless of if I'm sick or the apocalypse is coming, I am updating on Wednesday, April 8, 2020 at 10:00 pm CDT (UTC -5)!**_ I want to give you all good content, and I hope you all enjoyed! Thank you!


	20. Mutiny Pt 1

Welcome back for our next update of Fire in the Snow! I'm posting this early today, because I'm going on a date with my girlfriend tonight over a video call and still wanted this to be out there! I love you all, and I hope you guys enjoy!

_NOTE: THERE WILL BE A DOUBLE UPDATE OF THIS FIC THIS WEEK! CHECK THE END OF THE CHAPTER FOR THE DATE SINCE THIS CHAPTER IS SHORTER THAN NORMAL!_

**Chapter rated hard M for graphic depictions of violence, graphic depictions of rape and sexual violence in the past tense, obvious allusions to PTSD, perilous themes, brief heavy language, suggestive themes, and general adult content.**

* * *

"I said let me go!" Purple struggled, viciously growling and snarling as he thrashed under Del's arm. "If you did anything to Red or Sen I'll…I-I'll…!"

"You'll destroy me?" Del chuckled warmly, readjusting his grip when Purple attempted to rake his claws down his side through his thick armor to little avail. "Goodness, you're quite the fighter now. It's strange what a week in the wild can do to a domesticated Irken, but I suppose that was to be expected." He stepped free from the whooshing elevator he'd forced them both into, nodding to Commander Poki and her wildly uncomfortable expression as he leisurely made his way down the narrow, dim corridor to his private quarters. "Ever since I received word that you'd been giving my life mate trouble on Callnowia, I prepared a lovely surprise to try and convince you to aid my cause. I think I'll be very persuasive, knowing how easily you crack."

Purple went to screech back another white-hot retort but failed, his breath cut off by Del's gentle, oddly intimate, glove smothered over his mouth as they neared the one room of the ship that he'd never been given the privilege to visit. Now he was more than positive that he didn't want the privilege anymore. His mind raced as his body was set into a sickening sweat, weak ideas and grisly flashbacks alike slamming into the back of his ocular lenses as images of Lire flooded his psyche and wrapped their claws up around his spooch to ruthlessly squeeze. Was Del going to do the same things to him that his advisor had done not even months ago? Please, no! Please! Purple couldn't take any more torment without shutting down completely! H-He couldn't take it and…

_Geez, you complain a lot. Stay calm and think this through, Pur. What would a thief do?_

Red?

Purple drew a shuddering inhale around the fabric pressing to his teeth and smearing the taste of old leather through his mouth as he thought over the phantom wraith of a voice looming in the atmosphere around him just out of reach. Where was Red? Was he taken to the holding pit in the belly of the ship or was he being tortured somewhere for his insolence and setback to Del's horrific plans? He knew how abysmally cruel and fundamentally insane his Tallest was…no…Del wasn't his Tallest anymore. He was an immortal freak of nature playing god and sinking his fingers into the lives of thousands to drink from the proverbial fountain of youth that spilled forth from their slit throats and destroyed arteries. Thousands had died for one insane man to live, and not even truly live at that, but rather steal countless more souls to remain disturbingly intact for his amoral desires of cheating death and dominating their star system with an army of blood-infused demons. Oh Irk…was he going to steal _his_ blood? Purple felt his stomach flip at the thought, wanting to gag but unable to around the pressure forcing his sharp teeth apart and keeping him from screaming back his irate lack of consent. Ok, ok, think. What was it Red's voice had mumbled in the back of his thoughts?

_What would a thief do?_

Don't panic. Don't you dare panic at a time like this. It's life or death now…l-life…or…d-death…You're fine, you're fine! You still don't know what's going on and you don't have a handle on the situation, but that doesn't mean you can't evaluate your surroundings and begin to formulate something usable for when you're finally put down. Think on Red's voice; his strong, beautiful voice singing you back down to and calming you with a tender touch to the shoulder or a soothing embrace just when you need it. Now, if you ever want to see that cocky smile or hear that idiotic, condescending tone again, you need to figure out what the hell is going on so you can fight back against whatever bottomless cavern you're being thrust into this time. Just read it over in your mind a few times and maybe it'll make more sense or you'll hatch a plausible plan for how to end this on your own. Red himself had lived a small portion of his own life as a thief, breaking an entering everywhere that piqued his interest and stealing away whatever his soul desired in the moment while being insanely resourceful, but that wasn't necessarily helpful in the moment. Purple wasn't here to steal or seek thrills, he was here to survive and make it down to the brig so he could finally free the, hopefully still beating, pulses of the two individuals he had left in this callous excuse for a world. Thieves also used and contorted the law to their own will and bent it in such a way that it benefited their own ploys and desires and-

Imperial Law?

Purple lit up when a pang of hope struck him through the chest and warmed him to his toes at the dangerous connotation of what he was about to open up, running over lines upon lines of code in his PAK and rereading the law they were all required by the Control Brains to follow as he hunted for something specific he'd remembered in his training to become Tallest. If he could find it, Del would have to follow his word and wouldn't be able to legally touch him under threat of execution from their mechanical overlords beating down upon them all. His terrified gaze snapped up to the sound of Del imputing his personal code into his quarters, followed by the gentle buzzing whoosh of the hatch fazing open in cold greeting to reveal the shadowy opulence of his personal quarters. It colder than Purple was expecting, swallowing around Del's finger when he heard the hatch slam shut behind them and lock, his gaze bouncing and rebounding over everything he could faintly make out in the insipid, skin-crawling lack of light; a gargantuan, plush bedframe with sharp corners and a few mechanical extensions and sleeping lamps he could almost see if he squinted, deep magenta walls that seemed to breathe with the immense force of artificial gravity generated by the ship's electromagnetic pulse, and something else foreign but bizarrely familiar. It glistened and hummed intermittently against the comforter of Del's silken bedspread, glowing a faint magenta light that made Purple's skin prickle. Was that what he thought it was? Why?

"Alright, son, let's talk about this little misunderstanding between us." Del sang sweetly, snapping with his free hand for the lights to flutter to life and illuminate Purple's worst fears when he realized he was right. "You and I used to be such good friends, but then you got involved with that General and everything went south from there. I wanted to let you know that I'm still willing to work with you if we can get over this little blip in our plans, and I still want you to marry my daughter. However, I'm going to be stripping your rights of ascension to Tallest because of your insolence, and I'll be staying in power for a bit longer than expected."

Purple glanced up as his breathing escalated, picking up his muscle-burning, back-breathing thrashing once more when Del calmly carted him over to the bedside where an ominous, lone PAK sat grimy and covered in filth from where it had been unfortunately discovered, cluing Purple in to the lingering stench of uncleanliness the closer he got. The nauseatingly distant scent of wild berries and watery snow invaded his trembling antennae as he picked up his panicked search for the ordinance he needed to shout to bring an end to everything that was about to happen, finding himself distracted by the roar of his blood pressure escalating through every heaving vein in his body and making him dizzy when he began to piece together just who's hardware this used to be. Del snickered above him and sat gingerly on the edge of the bed, pulling Purple into a tight, forced embrace on his lap to squeeze around him and press him back into his chest as he hyperventilated.

"Judging by your reaction, it looks like you've already figured out who's unfortunate PAK this is." Del's voice took a somber dip when he fell into a fit of reminiscing over the past. "I met Lire in the academy and we've been attached to one another ever since, until your lovely little General took him from my life. His blood had been tainted by the blood of a past consort to Sen who we didn't know was impure at the time, and…I'm afraid it swallowed him whole and made him into something sickening. What a shame." He paused to catch his breath, tightening his already suffocating grip on Purple's mouth as he continued to hunt through the law for the single loophole he needed to end this. "You may be wondering why I requested his hardware be collected, and it's simple really. I need your blood, my dear Nemi, to create a stable army of unstoppable Irken excellence, but I know that you'll violently oppose my staff and I every chance you get. If we don't use your blood for our cause, I'll be forced to use the blood of Irkens less pure than yourself and we won't understand the effects until they take place in the body. Your blood, on the other hand, will guarantee their safety and security."

Del pulled away to allow Purple to take a deep breath, chuckling when he went to shout something but instantly smothering him once more as he dug into his jacket and slipped his pistol free to let it clamber to the floor. He was so close, so close to finding what he needed to say as his PAK went into overdrive and splayed thousands of words behind his ocular lenses until…yes! Yes, yes, yes! That's it! Purple frantically scanned each and every line, finally landing on the paragraph he so desperately needed and reading it silently to himself;

_Imperial Law mandates that any challengers of a standing Almighty Tallest formally declare their opposition in a controlled environment that allows for insightful discussion between the two parties. Should there be no resolution of the opposition, or if the challenger feels that he and/or she has been wronged, the challenger retains the legal right by order of the Control Brains to dispute the Almighty Tallest in battle under the supervision of the Control Brains themselves. _

Battle? He would have to battle Del? Purple didn't like the sound of that, every word hammering his terror deeper and deeper into the swirling torrent of horror and disgust wavering in his skull. He swallowed thickly when Del reached out with his free hand and hummed a jovial tune, popping the main hatch of Lire's decrepit PAK and snaking free a thin, intact connection cord. Please. Please how did he challenge him? How did he challenge Del before whatever nightmare he was planning commenced and trapped him in his own worst fears?!

_Battle between both parties is required to take place on Judgementia in a controlled environment and shall determine the outcome of the argument. Should the Almighty Tallest fall in combat to the challenger, the opposition has the right to claim the title of Almighty Tallest if they are at least five foot, seven inches in height. The challenger is required to send verbal confirmation of their challenge directly to the Almighty Tallest which in turn activates a request within both party's internal hardware that will be sent directly to the Control Brains to initiate combat within twenty-four hours. During the grace period, both parties are required to maintain at least five feet of distance between one another and are to cease all external communications. If either party is found in violation of these stipulations, they will be subject to trial before the Control Brains._

Shit, he had to initiate the challenge by word of mouth? Del must have prepared for that, keeping his hand firmly over Purple's lips as he fumbled with the external connection port on his PAK and invaded his most intimate code with the code of another. He fumbled with the end of Lire's cord, struggling with a sigh of growing frustration when Purple squirmed and reached up with frenzied hands to scramble and pry the domineering grip free so he could scream out the only option he felt he had in the moment. If he entered battle with Del, he would have a chance to evade capture and run, but…there was no guarantee he would live. Del had been injected with his blood mixed with Ipi's, giving him a dangerously intense edge and making him practically impervious to everything Purple could potentially throw back at him. He was tough as diamonds and infinitely strong, threatening to crush and snap his jawline on a moment's notice should he refuse to calm and cease his infuriating struggle for dominance that wouldn't come and would surely be a daunting, unbearably overpowered force of evil on the battlefield. But, if he didn't challenge Del, he would be forced into giving his blood until he bled dry and felt every vein in his withered body collapse and turn to dust as every last drop of his liquid lifeforce was mercilessly stolen from him. Irk, what did he do? If Purple sliced open a combat request, he would fight his Tallest alone under the glowing lights of the three main Control Brains staring down at them from a safe distance with smoldering mechanical eyes and horrific intent to watch the carnage unfold. Would he even stand a chance at survival or was this a double edged store with no conceivable way out? He hooked his fingers around Del's palm and tugged, screaming behind his iron hold when he refused to budge and shaking his head when he felt Lire's connection cord slam into his external port, the beginning fringes of fuzzy information exchange flooding his mind as he eyes rolled back in his skull and thousands of individual memories hammered into his consciousness at rapid speed, splitting his mind with images of grisly murder and horrendously bloody warfare. Then came the agonizing divide in personality that shuddered up his spine and confused him beyond anything he'd ever been forced to feet, groaning and writhing weakly as his fingers twitched through vividly real sensations he knew he'd never felt but saw playing out like a movie he couldn't escape, gripping around the throats of his enemies as he was practically transported into his abuser's body. Why? Why was Del doing this? Why was he forcing him to live in the footsteps of the one man who hurt him deeper than anyone ever could?

"Shh…that's it, son. That's it…" Del murmured, letting his free hand trail up to smooth over Purple's rapidly flicking antennae when he lurched and vaulted in his grip. "This is the only way to convince you to give me your blood, Nemi. If you see and feel the intense pain that impure blood gives you, I think you'll be more apt to aid my cause. You don't want millions of others to feel what you're about to, do you?" He continued to stroke his sweat slicked forehead, staring down at the glassy, unseeing terror in his captive's wild eyes as he experienced every horrid memory Lire had ever undergone. "Oh. Forgive me, Nemi, but I seem to have neglected that I reprogramed Lire's hardware to show you a few more things as well. Don't worry, I know that you deserve to be punished and I know you understand that in that smart mind of yours, so please take it as a gift and we'll move forward together towards a new future once we're finished."

What did he mean a few more things?

Purple blinked the stinging, hot tears from his blinded eyes, trying desperately to wiggle his way free and rip out the hideously disgusting cable connecting him in terrifyingly intimate ways to his attacker as he choked and sputtered when Lire's own voice entered his throat and attempted to flow past his tongue to taint the air with revolting memories of splitting pain. Only this time, it wasn't pain Purple was forced to feel but the intense wildfire of Lire's hilarity as he tormented him and took him from behind, enjoying every second of his blistering, mind-numbing assault and watching himself beg for forgiveness as he realized just how much Lire had enjoyed emasculating him when he rolled forward once more.

Hatred. Loathing. Sadistic enjoyment.

Pressure. Squeezing. Crying.

So much crying.

Why did his advisor find this funny? Why was it funny?

Hands landed against warm, smooth hips and forced their captive down into the mattress creaking below them to gain the advantage.

Snickers.

Praise.

Praise? Lire always had a thing for praise during domination. Purple could see it so clearly, feel it, _live_ it.

Please.

He needed someone to kill him, letting his fingers fall away to his lap as he lost the unstable, welcome control he'd finally had with Red over the past week and letting it dissolve to a mess of sweat and heartbroken, terrified sobbing as he weakly fumbled for the connection port but faltered when his surrogate body picked up speed once more and chuckled under his breath. Every moan was salt in a fresh, festering plasma shot to the brain, reducing Purple to a tear-streaked, bubbling mess as Del finally peeled his glove away from his trembling mouth and shoved him to the side to allow him to fall limp and catatonic to his comforter.

Death.

Please…he couldn't take this. He couldn't do it. He couldn't stomach it or stand it or feel any more of this repugnant torture claiming his body for his own under the fictitious but all-too-real memory of rape and injustice thrust upon him all because he was a pretty face. Wasn't he a man too? Or was he still just a toy? Did he still qualify as a man even when he had been taken forcibly by another? Of course he did, but why the hell didn't he feel like that? He felt shame, anger, and numbness combined with every sickening, disturbing emotion and lick of Lire's lips staring down at him with his cloying green gaze trained on places only an affectionate, tender lover should have ever seen. He didn't feel like a man. He felt like…he didn't know what he felt like. No, Red had showed him that he was powerful and given him a chance to take his shattered masculinity back for his own in a relationship that finally felt equal. Red didn't view him as the crying, sputtering shell of a creature he was watching grip at the sheets under his weak claws as he gave in to the motions to reduce the splitting pain within him to no avail.

Why?

It wasn't real.

It was real.

It _wasn't_ real!

It _was_ real!

Why could he never escape his past? Why couldn't he move? Why was Lire in his head? Would he remember him for the rest of his life now that he'd shared code with his PAK? He would never get away. Wait…he was supposed to challenge Del. He was supposed to end this and pave the way for his own victory against his nauseating demons and scream out his own hatred as he sliced open that powerful throat before the Control Brains and took his place as Tallest. Was he ready?

Yes.

He was ready to end this.

He opened his mouth to speak and initiate combat, struggling when his body shuddered and writhed in sudden terror to the false memory of Red's reliable boot knife being thrust up under his ribcage to crack at the cartilage holding his gooey, spilling organs in place.

"Don't worry, Nemi. The sweet release of agonizing death is coming soon." Del whispered with a nauseating kindness that had Purple rolling onto his side to shiver away. "Then we'll see if you're ready to donate some of that precious blood for me."

Say it. Challenge him. Just find your voice!

"I trust that you'll see things _my_ way."

* * *

"Get to him, Styx!" Sen barked again, smearing her face up against the chilly glass of her holding chamber and squinting against the mechanized glow of the forcefield holding them in place. "Don't worry about me just get out of here and go up the duct!" She screeched, glancing to the side to make sure they weren't being watched by anyone unwanted. "Seriously, quit crying like a kid and get up there before Del bleeds him dry or something!"

Red stabilized himself against he glass and pushed up with a single, shaky palm, glancing up at the duct before folding forward and pressing his forehead against his bonds as he wept. "I-I can't! I can't do it!" He was hysterical at this point, raking a hot palm down his face as he broke down and let loose everything he'd been concealing. "I can't do anything right, Sen! I couldn't make you happy, I couldn't save my family and…a-and now Purple is gonna die because I had the idea to come back here b-before we really thought it through! Why am I so stupid?!"

Sen yelped when Red reared back and smacked his head against the glass, opening her mouth to speak but panicking when he continued his frenzied, frantic rant.

"All I wanted is for something to go right for once! I-I…I-I wanted to be someone so no one would ever look at me like I was worthless again!" He sobbed, letting his PAK legs go limp when Sen struggled to figure out how to break through the intensity of the wall Red had thrown up between them. "I-I've always had this hole in me that I can't figure out how to…t-to fill and I spent so long filling it with shit I didn't even need! I-I stole and I ruined lives because I wanted to make my own better but…b-but I don't care about that anymore!" Red's gaze shot up to meet Sen's before he choked and faltered once more. "A-All I wanted was to be someone…I wanted to _protect_ someone to prove that I was worthy but I'm not even worthy of his love, am I?"

Sen swallowed around the viscous blood clotting in her throat as she coughed and hacked to the side, tentatively returning with a sigh as she knelt to look Red in the eye once more, finding that he'd given up. The hopelessness in his tired, harrowed tone was heartbreaking at best and tugged at whatever soul she'd retained in her undead state, tapping her claws against her prison in a soothing, rhythmic stim that gave him something to focus on as she spoke.

"Styx…no…I need to stop calling you that. You're Red now, right? You're not a failure." She began bluntly, unsure of how to continue when her frienemy sniffed and burst into another round of infuriating bawling. "Would you…w-would you stop crying? Geez, you're worse than Nemi- I mean, _Purple_, used to be! You say you're a failure but you've made it this far so you've done something right. Instead of looking at it like a failure, look at it like a success."

"What the hell does that even mean? How would you know what it's like to fail?" Red's voice broke, forcing him to swallow it back down with a shiver and curl up against the glass to listen, catching sight of Sen's gently rapping fingers and latching on to the oddly distracting sound. "I…I don't think I can do this…"

"That's what I'm trying to tell you, Red. You can do this. You're the only one of us with a vent, or else I'd climb my way out and get to Purple myself while you cried. You can't give up this far into your journey or give up on that…um…man that you love." Sen took a deep breath and tried to hold it together when Red reached out and felt for the tender thump through their barrier. "I know I wasn't ever there for you, but even when you hated me, you were still there for me. Please, Purple needs that from you because you're the only one on this ship that has a chance to get up there and get to him. You've been through so much but you've always survived because you're strong."

Strong?

But…Red tried to find a counter argument and throw himself further into the fiery pit of despair plaguing his head, but he couldn't find a way to beat back against Sen's sound reasoning. He was strong? But, he'd been homeless, stateless, planetless, famililess, and now he was going to be partnerless. So many buts…so many terrifying reasons not to move forward. His intelligence had always been questioned from his admittance into the Academy and his appalling grades, and his own Tallest had called him an idiot before the Control Brains and slandered his IQ before a crowd of thousands. Humiliation. So much humiliation. So much mud caked over his cheeks as he shivered in alleyways and begged for scraps on corners, digging through empty trashcans to lick the crumbs from donut wrappers and swallow down lollipop paper just to taste something sweet. He'd developed a power complex early on, a fervent need to be in constant control of his own internal environment and have it work in tandem with the external as he rebelled his way through society and took down anyone who opposed him with brutal, guttural strength. He'd hidden away his insecurities when he was taken for eye color testing, reinventing himself and using his learned skills as a petty thief to get somewhere in the hierarchy of other violet-eyed Irkens struggling around him. He'd lied to himself for cycles, telling himself that he was happy with Lavender Fire and returning to Irk but always wanting more in the moment to take himself to the next level and prove to every depressed, angry fiber of his broken being that he wasn't trash.

"You're not trash." Sen giggled lightly, trying to relieve a bit of tension from the mood and snickering when Red's jaw dropped in confusion. "Don't look at me like that. It was a lucky guess and written all over your face. But you have to stop beating yourself up. So what if you're technically unclean or something, but it doesn't matter! What matters is you getting to Purple and pulling him out of the pain he could be in! Do you want him to suffer?"

"N-No! Never!" Red yelped suddenly, a spike of determined anger hitting him in the spooch and pacifying a bit of his self-loathing sadness. "Why would I want that?!"

"Well that's what you're acting like! What do you want from him then?"

"Why are you yelling all of a sudden?!"

"I asked you what you want from him!"

"I-I-!"

"Don't stutter, tell me!"

Red clenched his jaw in mounting, distraught exasperation when Sen kept talking over him. "I want to love him!"

That wasn't good enough to prove Sen's point, her overly aggressive therapy tactics not helping much as she shook her head and slammed a palm against the tank to make him jolt out of his stupor. "You _want_ to love him? Give me a clear answer and quit stepping around your own surety! You're smart, you're powerful, and you can figure this out!"

"Fine! I love him! I love Purple, alright?!" Red shot up from the floor and clenched his fists, narrowing his eyes down at his new friend as he finally admitted his feelings verbally to the atmosphere and solidified them as something real and profound, a bit surprised when he had the gall to keep going. "I love him more than I've ever loved anyone and I want to keep him safe because I know he'll do the same for me! If I could be with him for the rest of my life, I would because he's everything I've ever wanted and…and he's _real_." Red trailed off when Sen grinned and pointed up at the vent. "Holy shit, you're slick."

"I have my ways of breaking idiots out of mental breakdowns." She beamed as if she were an expert. "Now, get out of here and go save your partner."

Red took a deep breath and rolled his shoulders, wincing at the painful burn in his skin from the ruthless plasma connection he'd managed to drown out in his stupor. Purple was up there. He was up there with Del and he was most likely alone. This time, Red couldn't stay along the sidelines of the horrors he was being put through; he needed to be strong and fight for them both for the first time in his life.

He wasn't stupid.

He wasn't a failure.

He nodded to himself and focused, flicking on his ocular lenses as he extended his spidery extensions and attempted to pry the vent cover free, heaving against the weight of the titanium as he huffed and felt every muscle in his back strain and burn with lactic acid pumping through his system. Dammit! Come on! He tried again, suspending himself in the air before latching his boots against the wall for leverage and tugging back with his bodyweight, yelping sharply when the metal flew free and forced him to the ground in a heap as it tumbled and clattered to the floor with a booming clatter of a thud. He panicked, glancing in terror to Sen who's hand had flown to her mouth before she frantically waved him on when the pulse-stopping sound of angry shouts in the distance ricocheted through the glass and alerted them that their plan had been discovered. Red scrambled to heave himself up, crying out when his pod fazed open and a single guard flew forward to grab at his boot, tugging at his laces with maniacally irate claws and ripping it free as Red lunged back and kicked him between the eyes. He latched his hands onto the lip of the dark tunnel swallowing him whole and struggled to keep his balance, stifling another cry when the guard quickly recovered and snatched at his ankle before barking something he didn't quite catch in the heat of his terror. Red felt himself slipping, fumbling to keep his hold as he heated a single laser and thrust it down to fire, missing and panicking when his blast rebounded and slammed into one of his PAK extensions to sever it from his hardware, the guard taking advantage of his shell-shocked gape to drag him back down into a harsh, violet tousle. He threw a punch, connecting hard with Red's side as he double over and pushed off the glass to mount a counter attack, remembering his pistol and flying up to yank it ruthlessly free from his hidden holster before throwing it up and cocking the slide. He glanced nervously up at the vent, watching his heaving attacker shakily raise his hands in surrender as Red snatched at his sleeve and thrust his pistol into his back.

"Walk." He demanded shortly, taking a final look towards Sen who began to fluster when she realized he was taking a different avenue. "Take me to Del. Now!"

"I-I don't think I have the security clearance to- S-Sir, I don't even know where he is!"

Red wasn't in the mood for games, gritting his teeth and slamming the heated pistol of his barrel hard into the small of his prisoner's spine, searing his uniform as it heated and drawing a terrified cry from his trembling lips. "Then find out! Who on this ship knows I'm here?"

"U-Um…just the bridge and the lower deck, Sir. We've kept the information sensitive out of fear that…um…that a coup in your honor would break out. B-But, I-I…General, I'm just doing my job! I don't-!"

"Shut up and let me think." Red thought rapidly as his wartime instincts kicked in, running through each and every floor with his ocular lenses and scanning for Del's life signature before quickly pinpointing it in the pinnacle of the ship with…oh Irk.

With Purple's erratic pulse.

Fuck.

"He's in his private quarters. If you can take me there and make this look convincing, I won't splatter your head all over the wall." Red whispered against the guard's antennae as he improvised, ignoring Sen when she frantically pointed up at the vent and tried to sway his reckless decision making. "I don't know my way around the duct system here and the steam alone could boil me alive so, you're my only option. Got it?"

"Y-Yes, General!"

"Good. Then let's start a mutiny."

* * *

Thanks for reading loves! I hope that you enjoyed this part 1 chapter to our mutiny of the Massive! Like I said, I will be posting a second chapter on **Sunday April 12, 2020 by 10:00 pm CDT!** Love you and thanks!


	21. Mutiny pt 2

Welcome back to this episode of Fire in the Snow! I have a bit of a surprise for you...and you'll see what it is when you read this chapter! This is part II of the mutiny that Red and Purple are trying to do on the Massive, but let's see if they can actually get it done! As always, I hope that you enjoy and I really, really appreciate your support and continued interest in this bizzare little fic I've managed to pull from my head.

Let's just say...the seat of Tallest may be open very...very soon.

**Chapter rated M for violence, perilous themes, allusions to mental disorders/PTSD, suggestive/sexual themes, brief heavy language, and general adult content.**

* * *

Del stood and stretched, striding leisurely to the far wall of his quarters and dancing his fingers over the fanciful array of glasses dotting his bar as he mulled over his selection of exotic liquors and ciders. He selected one as Purple went into shock behind him, ruthlessly fighting against the hideously terrifying code invading his senses, and poured the honied, thick mixture into a single shot before gingerly taking it and swirling it through his mouth. Purple blinked, watching his Tallest from behind as Lire's death continued to play in his psyche, an odd sensation of fading and physical dissolving accompanied by the strangest weakness he'd ever felt plaguing his body and bogging him down like mud. Del poured another drink and moved back with a smile, sitting on the edge of the bed and crossing his legs delicately as he scooped Purple up by the back of the neck and urged him to take a revitalizing sip when the grisly, mind-shattering memory came to a final close and smoothed, leaving Purple with nothing more than the need to lay down and sleep for cycles to overcome the immense, overpowering drowsiness he hadn't been expecting. Del plucked the cable free from his PAK and nodded in approval, swiftly closing the protective casing to his hardware and bringing the chilly rim of the glass to his lips once more when he lolled and tried to gain his bearings. Huh? Wasn't he…weird. This was weird. He felt like he had been reincarnated, staring down at his hands as he sat up on impulse and panicked when he realized he couldn't speak.

_Hello?_

His voice…his voice was distant and too far gone, echoing in his thoughts as his body continued to move and sling itself up over the bed, touching his face without his permission and stretching with a peep to move towards the mirror and examine exactly what was happening. Sure enough, he looked the same. Wide eyes blinked without cause, fingers smoothed over lightly freckled skin without purpose, and Of course he looked the same, he was himself! Right? Right?! Purple tried to swallow but faltered, turning back as his feet went on autopilot to the stoic, leisure motions of an invisible puppeteer tugging on his soul and making him dance a devious waltz back towards his Tallest to take the glass and swallow down the nauseating, chilled cider that nearly made him gag.

Then…a voice.

"Ugh, this soft body can't handle its liquor. What a shame. How fitting of you to pick this one for me."

His voice?

But…he _didn't_ say that!

Purple felt trapped under an invisible anvil, panicking and exerting pressure down on his jaw in a frantic need to see if he could move anything…_anything_ at all and feeling a tiny nerve jolt as his teeth slammed together. His hands flew to his mouth with a yelp of surprise followed by a gentle rub over his sore jawline to pacify the ache his fingertips found there.

"Del, don't tell me he's still in here with me?"

What? Why did he keep talking?! Why was he talking to his Tallest like they'd known each other for cycles upon cycles with no malice?! He forced his jaw back open as his hands wrangled to keep it closed, hastily bounding back to the mirror to watch with false frustration that wasn't his own as whoever had taken him resumed control and figuratively pushed him back into his own mind. No! This was his body! T-This was his and only his and no one else's! Why couldn't he move? Why couldn't he speak? He had to challenge Del, yeah, he had to challenge him and end this intense nightmare once and for all before it got out of hand. Everything would be alright, and he and Red could figure this out together once he got to the brig and showed him what was happening. H-He would know what to do. Red always knew what to do.

Del chuckled from behind, patting the space next to him and laying back over his comforter to stare up at the gloomy ceiling with a victorious grin. "It's strange to hear your voice like that. I know it's you but you sound so pathetically weak." He laughed again and glanced up, watching as Purple's body joined him and crossed his arms over his chest to admire the piping hissing above them. "I figured it would be a lot easier to get blood if he was compliant, but the only way to do that was to bring you back."

Purple felt himself sneer with a snicker. "Ah. So the only reason you shoved my code into this form was to use me as a blood farm. How fitting of you, Del. You always know exactly what to say to make a man feel special."

_Blood farm? Hey! I'm still here! Who the hell is in my head?!_

Del ignored the ghostlike voice rebounding silently over the room as Purple irately screamed back his non-compliance, watching as his hands balled up over his chest in discomfort and deciding to yell once more.

_Get out of my body you prick! Get out of my fucking body!_

"Irk, I can still hear him and let me tell you, he's pretty damn loud." His voice sighed and rolled onto his side to get a better look at Del's deepening frown. "Is there any way we can shove him out?"

Del thought a moment, bringing a gloved claw to his mouth and tracing his lips as he ran over everything he knew about PAK technology. "Hm. I don't think there's a way to do it safely. You're being supported by his hardware, so if his code is deleted, all that will be left is your personality stream." He grimaced, trailing the piping with his eyes and sighing long and low as his short lived victory faltered. "That won't be enough alone to support proper brain function and you'll die…again."

_Again? What do you mean again?! Del, look at me! C-Can you…can you hear me…?_

Purple felt his form run a cool palm up over his cheeks and nod in agreement. "Ha, yeah. That wouldn't be fun. The first time was bad enough with that idiot General slamming through my ribcage. You know, death really is how they tell you it's like in the Academy." He swallowed on command, choking in his mind when he wasn't expecting it. "It's like falling asleep. Cold, stagnant, hibernation is all and then nothing."

_Hibernation?_

Del nodded along with his false words, rolling onto his side to face him directly as well but refusing to meet his gaze. "Then it's a good thing we won't ever have to go through that again now, will we?" He reached out and patted Purple on the shoulder, the sensation sending disgusting shivers up Purple's spine and forcing his body to react.

"Woah! I felt that one!" He chuckled, standing and wobbling on his feet as his parasitic host got used to his new height and laughed. "Is this what you tall idiots feel like all the time? This is fantastic! I feel like I'm on top of the world up here!"

Del slung himself up and followed, resting a hand on Purple's shoulder and grinning down as he felt himself beam back up.

_No! N-No I challenge you! I challenge you for the seat of Tallest! You have to let me go! Y-You can't do this if I've challenged you!_

Nothing.

Del made his way towards the hatch, inputting the code and waiting for it to sling open as Commander Poki saluted genially from the outside and held the door respectfully, eying Purple in confusion as he stepped through against his will and followed closely at Del's side.

"You'll get used to the feeling of him floating around in the back of your mind. For now, welcome back…Lire."

* * *

Play it cool. Just act normal.

Ugh, that was hard when Red was literally torn to hell, wasn't it?

He smiled to the best of his fading ability, grinning down at the slew of confused faces staring back at him as his prisoner led him down long back corridors and passed the cafeteria, awkwardly turning away from the door to wave at the inhabitants and conceal the plasma pistol burning into his skin as he walked. He had to get to Purple. He had to find a way to catch Del off guard and overtake the ship as a distraction, running through the layout in his ocular lenses and freezing at the end of the corridor when he noticed the tiny pulse he'd been trained on the entire time began to move. Where was Del taking him? He forced the barrel of his pistol further into the small of his prisoner's back as he forced him to pick up speed, flashing a hasty under planned smile to a tiny service drone that waved up at him from below then promptly frowned when she realized he was in a hurry. Del really hadn't thought this through or told anyone, keeping his betrayal a complete secret from most of his staff and playing them all for fools, not that they weren't. At least Lire was dead; that would have been a war and a half to go through if he was still around to see Red traipsing down the hallway like he owned the place.

"Do you know anything about Del's plans for the consort?" He asked on a quick, hushed stutter, swiftly rounding the corner and stopping when he was met with a wave of new recruits touring the hallways on their own. Red pressed himself up against the wall, keeping the guard in front of him and dipping down to conceal his face as they continued their sweaty, nervous trek. "I asked you a question, soldier. Do you know what Del is doing with the consort?"

"T-The consort? Y-You mean Nemi?" The guard stammered, sniffing thickly and yelping when he was forced into a service door. "I-I don't- I-I don't know, Sir!"

Red growled and firmly shoved him away, slamming his pistol down on the guard rail of the emergency steps as his thoughts reeled and he kept a close eye on Purple's ping behind his retinas. He watched as the frightened soldier wavered and wrung his hands together, squinting through each floor and struggling to keep up with the rapidly escalating speed of his mysterious other half. He decided to go in alone, throwing in the towel and feeling that the guard was more of a liability when he began to hum nonsense under his breath.

"You never saw me, got it?" Red hissed with a frustrated spit, rushing up the stairs in a surprisingly level headed chase and forgetting his prisoner completely as he raced over grating and quickly scaled the gargantuan ship.

The med-bay.

They were headed to the med-bay.

Red felt his pulse lurch as he counted the floors under his panting breath, skipping over steps and resorting to throwing out his PAK legs for added speed and squinting back against the rush of cold air smacking him in the face. His partner's pulse was steady and serene as he entered the sprawling med-bay with Del, the two hastily making their way to the back pod and stopping. Ugh, what was his game? Was Purple seriously going to give up his blood to that nauseating, vile monster?! He finally reached the correct floor, hooking his razor sharp PAK extensions into the hinge of the locked hatch and heaving as he dug his heels down into the grating for stability and pried it open.

Uh oh.

An alarm sounded, flashing lights and the deafening pierce of horrid screeching flooding the stairwell and alerting the surrounding guard to an unwanted intrusion. Fuck! No, no, no! Red thought fast, bounding forward through the hatch and dipping into a darkened medical pod as he scrambled for purchase over the slick floor, making his way under a suspended bed and gripping at the sterile plastic to watch a troop of five stoic guards race with thudding iron boots to the scene, flooding the stairwell and throwing out pistols as orders were given to find whoever was responsible. Red waited a few seconds longer, his pulse deafening in his antennae as he slowly stood and crept to the internal window of the room, smoothing back the privacy blinds and clamping a hand over his mouth to stifle a yelp when he realized Del had followed, forcing him to think fast and select a tiny cabinet in the back of the room. In a mad dash, he flew forward, throwing open the cabinet and painfully squeezing his way into the tiny crevice he'd been allotted, brushing aside stinging alcohol and sharp packaged PAK tools before fumbling to close the door shut behind him, a small bottle of eye solution slipping free and skidding across the floor at the last second and drawing a terrified curse from Red's lips as he finally shut himself away and waited. Shit…shit…shit…he couldn't move. He couldn't move or hear or feel or see. It was so dark, reeking of medical waste and astringent swirling together to produce something laden with fumes and noxious. He tried not to focus on the nasty scent, straining to press his long antennae against the seam of the cabinet and listen to whatever he could possibly pick up; an order maybe? But that didn't sound like Del. That sounded soft…familiar…lovely.

Purple.

There was no doubt about it, Purples sing-song tone turned vile with domination as he ordered about service drone and laughed along with Del as they fought to scramble forth to undergo their duties. That couldn't be right…it was but it couldn't be. Red reached out with trembling fingers, griping at the safety latch inside the cabinet and blindly forcing it open an inch before squinting in the now blinding light of the room searing back against his sensitive eyes. He held his breath and silently shut the door as he curled back into himself and forced himself to stay as still as possible when two sets of footsteps started rooting through medical supplies outside followed by two recognizable voices.

"Do you think it's him Del?"

"Mm. Probably. I always knew that General of yours was crafty in his ways. I can't believe I legitimately trusted him for as long as I did. I should have listened to your reasoning before assigning him to my cabinet."

"Yes, you should have. I told you he was bad news from the start. And he's not _my_ General."

"Ah forgive me, with a kind face like that I forget that you're not who I thought you were anymore. It's strange to see you like this."

"You'll get used to it eventually. Now, help me check around so we can kill this idiot before he gets to the mainframe or something. I don't want his weird hands touching our tech and ruining everything!"

Red pressed his fingertips to his lips as he listened to Purple drag him through the mud like a limp, long forgotten piece of meat, overly confused at why the hell his kindhearted, patient partner would say something like that? Was he playing a part? Red swallowed when a fleeting thought passed through his mind, opening up a terrifying realization that he quickly pushed away; was Purple working with Del the entire time? Pfft, no. He trusted that man with his life and knew that whatever he was doing was for the good of them both and the good of the mission, choosing to let him play out his fictitious role as he listened and got a bit of enjoyment out of how poorly he was doing. Geez, Del would never believe acting like that. He stuck out his tongue and stifled a tiny chuckle when he heard Purple rustle above the cabinet above him, shaking his head and taking a deep breath when he accidentally smacked his jaw on a metallic shelf with a loud clang and hoped that Purple would purposefully ignore the clatter for his own safety. There was no way that his partner would ever-

Red froze when the doors to the cabinet swung open and two familiar lavender orbs shown back behind the smile he'd come to love, unnerving him completely as a deep frown hitched in his chest and bubbled up to spread over his face. What the hell? He glanced to the side and noticed Del had moved off somewhere else in the process, reaching out and taking Purple's hand when he extended it down and took him by the chin to draw him up to his height. Woah…w-woah! He was here! He was really here and he was in one very normal, undissected piece! Red flew forward and wrapped his arms up around Purple's waist, hoisting him from the floor and spinning him in the renewed light of the room as he pressed a swift, sweet kiss to his cheek and purred up into his neck to drink in his affectionate, gloriously delightful scent. It was cozy and warm, Red giggling out his adrenaline-fueled nerves as Purple's hands found his shoulders and smoothed over his scapula to draw him closer when he finally lowered him down and looked him over with a wholly relieved grin. He looked perfect, just as he remembered him, but something was different. He was slicked and drenched through his clothes with sticky sweat, hinting at the extraneous torture he must have been through and, as Red leaned in to smear a giddy smooch against his partner's chapped lips, he stopped himself short. There _was_ something. Purple moved back forward and gripped at Red's ribcage, scanning his face with compassionate eyes as he kneaded his fingers into his skin and allowed his hands to trail down and peel away the pistol that had all but formed to his hand, setting it gingerly aside to the counter and opening his mouth to speak.

"I'm so happy I found you." He whispered, smiling softly and running a thumb up over Red's cheek. "I managed to slip away earlier and I've been trying to figure out where on Irk you went off to."

His voice was the same, but his speech was different. It was more heavy and articulated, as if he'd suddenly gone through cycles of grammar training that wasn't his own. "I-I'm happy I found you too." Red folded back forward into his hold, burying his face in his neck as he sighed against his skin as a test and pulled away when he realized Purple wasn't squirming. He always got uncomfortable when Red got too close for his taste, usually gently shivering away with a hasty apology or moving his hands somewhere easier to handle as he tensed. "How did you get away from Del? I just heard him in here with you."

Purple blinked and looked over his shoulder as if searching for something Red didn't understand, bringing a finger to his lips to affectionately hush him. He no longer had the instinctive tremor in his fingers from cycles of abuse, his hands steady as boards and careful as he leaned in for another kiss and clued Red in to the stench of honied alcohol lingering on his breath. Red met him halfway and blinked in perplexity, listening to the low sigh of self-sure contentment moving against him as Purple indulged a little too much for the first time and caught him completely off guard. He gingerly pushed him back and held him at a distance when Purple frowned and leaned forward on his toes to try and get closer once more, distressing Red in ways that he hadn't expected as he swiftly glanced out of the hatch and returned to speak rapidly under his breath in a desperate chase for answers.

"Pur, what the hell are you doing?" He mumbled, in mounting exasperation when his partner purred past his hold and curled his fingers up against his cheeks to press a kiss between his eyes and back him up against the counter. "T-This isn't like you, what…? What happened between you and Del? D-Did he get you drunk or something?"

"Irk, you always talk far too much for my taste." Purple chuckled, hooking a claw into Red's collar when he threw his hands up before him in defense to try and fight off the bizarre, out of character advances setting a deep chord of discomfort in his spooch when he felt finger trailing further than he wanted. "I've always wanted to try kissing you to see what the hype was about. Ah..I-I mean I really want to kiss you _now_. I could have died back in Del's quarters and I want to savor us being alone for a minute longer."

"Why are you talking like that?"

"Like what, love?"

"Like you're, I dunno, all ancient and proper? You sound creepy."

"Creepy? Ha! No, no, I'm just excited is all."

"Pur, I've seen you excited and you slur all of your words together and throw curses. This is wrong." Red stifled a yelp when Purple's hands landed between his legs, forcing him to push back hard against his shoulders and clamp a hand over his mouth when he landed back against the ground. "Ok, what happened with Del? You're not you. This isn't you!"

"Ah, I wondered how long it would have taken you to notice. Lire you owe me two hundred monies when we get back to our quarters tonight." A voice rang out, nearly melting Red in his boots. "I knew he'd notice you because you're, well, you're not as _broken_ as Nemi."

Del strode around the corner and nodded leisurely in Red's direction, flashing him a warmhearted smile and moving to help Purple from the floor as their captive tried to figure out what the hell he'd just heard in all of the commotion. Did he say…Did he just say Lire? But Lire was dead and gone, destroyed from the inside out by the sharp edge of his boot knife and Zim's skilled hands tearing his hardware from his spine and chucking it into the Callnowian wilderness. He'd dissolved and turned to dust before they'd all left the geode cave in the cold but-

Red slumped back and gripped at the edge of the counter, his expression falling as he paled and felt the color drain from his face and leak away to the floor in thick, goopy puddles as he realized the obvious. Well, maybe not obvious, but the to the trained eye everything he'd suspected came to the forefront in rolling waves, crashing over Red's battered shores when he realized who exactly was staring back at him and continuing to violate his other half's body for the hundredth time. He had seen it before in the red light district of Moo-Ping 10's many moons, watching as dead PAKs were taken to quack doctors and surgeons for illegal data transfer into cadavers that had been pilfered from the Irken homeless population and given new life through code exchange. It was hard to safely rid the first resident from their hardware, so the two learned to coexist, meaning…m-meaning…

Purple was stuck in his own head with his worst nightmare.

"Pur, look at me. Look at me baby, I know you can see me." He took a step forward as Lire shook his head and rolled his partner's eyes, reaching up to work his fingers into his jaw as Purple tried to say something from within but was ruthlessly stifled. "Get out of him, Lire. Hasn't he already messed with you enough before you died?!"

Lire brushed Del's hand away and moved to sling himself up on the medical table as a drone arrived with a phlebotomy set and a needle, rolling up Purple's sleeve to show off his vein as the little drone swiftly pricked him and went to drain his precious lifeforce on command from her Tallest. Red sprinted forward with a shout, reaching out and feeling the wind knocked from his lungs when Del grabbed him sharply around the waist and hoisted him up. He wasn't going to go down without a fight, rearing back with a screeching growl when his instinct to protect what he loved bloomed out of nowhere and threw his PAK lasers out on impulse to fire up at the ceiling and strip away the piping of the ship. The drone pulled back as Lire sat stoic and unfazed, watching her scramble out of the way as hunks of iron and titanium cascaded down around them like meteors, alerting the rest of the floor to the horrors unfolding in the room as Del shouted a command to the computer to slam the hatch shut as Red fired once more and seared through a medical cabinet to ignite a package of untouched medical alcohol and watch it spray over the far wall in streaking flames of wild orange and glittering yellows. He wrestled his way out of Del's hold and fell to the floor, tackling Lire from his perch as his Tallest tried to maintain his bearings but faltered, allowing Red to rear back and build energy for a punch as he gritted his teeth in rage before realizing that he was about to clout his partner. He wavered, crying out when Lire hit him back with much more force then he was expecting and popping his jaw out of place as he struggled to reset it in its socket, feeling it pop and scrambling back across the floor when Purple pursued him. He braced for another impact but quickly realized it wouldn't come, watching in horrified perplexity as Lire slammed Purple's mouth shut and forced his fingers into the floor as Del collected himself and raced forward, a single recognizable sound flooding from Purple's mouth that had Red spinning where he sat to watch Del race forward like a dubious animal.

"Challenge!"

Red hopped up when everything slowed, his nerves calming and the beginning fringes of a challenge request piquing in his PAK hardware before it shot off to alert the Control Brains millions of miles away on Judgementia and halted Del in his charge as his own did the same.

"Almighty Tallest Del, I, Red of Naphrus, challenge you to combat for the seat as head of the Imperial Irken Empire!"

* * *

As always, thank you for joining me for this chapter! I hope you enjoyed and I love each and every one of you!

**Next Update: Sunday, April 19, 2020 by 10:00 pm CDT (UTC-5)! Thank you and see you then!**


	22. Gall

Welcome back to Fire in the Snow! As promised, I am all better and my hiatus is over! I hope that you all like this chapter, and I hope that it has more of the soul that I guess I've been known to pour into things! As always, thank you all for waiting and thank you so much for your continued support of my work! I love you all!

**Chapter rated M for allusions to PTSD/mental instability, drug use/addiction, murder in the past tense, brief heavy language and general adult content.**

* * *

4 Cycles in the Recent Past; The Irken Capitol City of Veloria

Blueberry cheesecake? No, that would melt far too fast in his mouth and not last very long on the stomach, leaving him with the same emptiness he dreaded mere hours later. He needed something filling and chocked to the brim with fluffy layers and crispy edges begging to be inhaled like bromine, and cheesecake definitely didn't fit the bill this time. Plus, that sounded far too exotic for his simple countryside taste, drawing his nervously chittering, mud caked claws over to the freshly stocked rack of steaming, beautifully glazed donuts sparkling under the vivid lights of the bakery he'd been forced to sleep by in the alleyway for the past several months, taking in every lucky bastard that had the gall to step over him as they munched flippantly on crumbling scones and sipped spiced coffee in the cold. The smells…oh the smells drove him absolutely feral, awakening the diabolical itch inside him to heave a rock through the protective windowpane shrouding the back door as he crept inside and made off with as much fluffy, buttery, delectably rich sugar he could handle in his own two arms. He would take them far away and open up a guttural binge unlike anything any rational Irken had ever witnessed, licking every last drop of gooey, molten sweetness off the wax paper that remained behind to taunt him with the goodness he wouldn't have for another week's time. At least it would be something. It would be tangible and free of caked on molds yellowed with age, clinging to the crippled, month old plastic of cookie packages and stale crumbs resting in the bottoms of tins he scavenged from the dump. Yeah, that would be something, alright. No more bouncing between food-poisoned nausea and piercing, never ending hunger pangs pinching at his lower spooch.

He would finally be free of that hideously demeaning existence…as long as he could keep up the act.

Red swallowed and took a tiny step backwards when the cashier eyed him with stoic suspicion from across the glass top counter, running a cleaning cloth over the pristine surface a forth time to try and appear inconspicuously busy, not that Red didn't already know she was watching him. He took a deep breath and smoothed down the front of his tattered cadet uniform, his unbearably shaky fingers catching holes along the way and tearing at the fringes of the thick canvas fabric that once bore the glittering gold, imperial crest of Tallest Del. He'd since sold it for prescription pills, popping them at the pier as career fisherman wrangled squealing balls of writhing tentacles and laughing through his high as he took his mind off the crushing weight of the planet for once. He was a walking uniform, a marked reminder that he'd failed the Academy when IQ regulations were instilled, falling short a mere three points of the standard for his Tallest's newest initiative to procure only the finest, fittest, most harrowingly intelligent of soldiers for his Armada. Red had been on his way to the top, climbing ranks and titles like smooth rungs in a polished ladder and traversing lightyears before the rest of his troop to earn the title of preliminary Staff Sergeant praised for his beautiful amethyst eyecolor. He had blown away his inspection, proving with flying colors that he was ready to take on the field as one of the best cadets in the whole of the overpowering fleet and race his way to his goal of General to preside over millions. Why did a few intelligence points matter? Why did his miniscule, unimportant plot point on a graph make any difference with how well he had already proven he could do his job? Ah…well. His Tallest thought it mattered…and so he lost everything.

No job.

No home.

No friends.

No hope.

No hope? Hm…had Red really sunk so low as to let them take the fundamentals of what had made him himself sink into the mudslide of a fanatical, egotistical mess this Empire had become in the past fifty cycles? He missed the radiant benevolence of the beautiful, kindhearted Miyuki leading them on to territorial greatness with her consort, the timid Spork, hanging back at her side. Still, Red had a knack for bouncing back, for overcoming any issue smacked into his unsuspecting jawline but this was pushing him to his limits. He was beginning to fear in the back of his swimming, perpetually fatigued mind that he would always be homeless, eating away at his once frigid resolve and turning him to a pile of shivering mush as the planet progressed in its long orbit and brought him further to something mind-numbingly frozen to bite at his lopsided antennae and rake through his bitter skin. He couldn't do this. He couldn't cry himself to some semblance of overwhelmed, depleted slumber as opulent Spittle Runners zipped overhead through the city that was supposed to give opportunity to young Irkens like him, not screech curses back in his face when he asked for pocket change. Had he snapped internally? Had a single cog in the back of his shorting brain fried and popped free from the once well-oiled war machine he'd thought he was? What if he wasn't as cool and collected as he'd hoped, hanging on a razor's edge of a thread between the dark forces of snickering crime and the heavenly grins of justice. Maybe it was the drugs; maybe the tiny pills he popped periodically past his grimy teeth were beginning to chip away at him like soggy clay to mold him back into something disgusting and viscerally sickening to the brain.

Then…the unthinkable happened.

Red was emaciated, gruesomely skeletal, but ravenously desperate as he attempted to shroud himself in the stretchy plastic of a trashbag and watch with a dry tongue the others who poured in and out of the bakery that had become his obsession. It was like watching a transmission station, tiny snickers overcoming him as he forgot his woes to the fictitious stories and tribulations he whipped together for every patron, giving them depth through false drama and crime that he would pretend to solve in his labyrinth of a mind. There was one he saw on the daily that made his skin crawl, racing over every nerve in his body like skittering insects digging into his spooch and taking hold in the worst of ways. Thoughts raced and rebounded. Fingers twitched against stained plastic. Teeth chattered with unbearable tension as exquisite Plookesian leather boots made it a point to step over him on the daily and flick a quarter back down in his face with a haughty smirk.

A recruitment officer.

Why did everyone in Veloria have to be a total ass?

Red tried to ignore it, watching him from afar as the magenta-eyed beast laughed with his friends and straightened his peacoat before puffing out his egotistical chest and coming over to stoop to his level. He always got in his face, grabbing at Red's tattered excuse for a uniform and pointing out how pitifully it marked him as a nauseating failure to the Academy and to his people, gripping at what remained of his rank and yanking it free with a boisterous laugh to stomp it firmly into the filth of the shadowy alleyway before retreating for his daily donut. Red never said a word, keeping his head down as an incredible, festering pit of rage took hold in his stomach and sweltered, turning him into a ticking time bomb of violence awaiting the perfect moment to hop up and shout back in the snooty officer's direction and tell his story for some semblance of closure to the government that blatantly refused to help him. No welfare, no support. Nothing…he was nothing, wasn't he? And that officer…oh, that pathetic excuse for a lump of sentient cells only reminded him as he slipped further into comatose desires in the form of painkillers before upgrading to sticking the sensitive crook of his arm with shared morphine needles he'd stolen off of the stagnant bodies of others he'd stumbled upon in a homeless den. His PAK always cleansed his blood by morning, leaving him unfortunately fresh and able to recollect every single dark, malicious desire to survive driving him to keep a tight rope from around his neck each night. Hm…hm.

He was dancing around the point again.

He'd…he'd done the unthinkable.

That damned officer. It was his fault for taunting Red one to many times one evening on his own, grabbing for handfuls of trash and snatching his collar to stuff gooey, sulfery sickness down the front of his coat. The feeling of muck, of being tainted beyond anything he'd ever experienced was worse than anything Red had ever experienced yet and the pills blossoming in his nervous system only heightened the agonizing frenzy of ailing wrath contorting him into something unsightly and intolerably vile. It was the officer's fault. It was always and would always be his fault. He had to keep telling himself that as he stood catatonic before the pristine countertops of the bakery, clutching a stolen points card in his pale, twitchy fingers to work up the courage to use what he'd pilfered.

It was the officer's fault that he hopped up and confronted him, screaming out a fury of slurred curses that made no sense as he tried to back away and apologize.

It was the officer's fault that he lunged forward and pinned him back to the ground to raspingly scream and shred his perfect uniform as he tried to weakly defend himself in mounting fear.

It was the officer's fault when he grabbed a jagged piece of serrated metal from the sidelines and drove it down to land a single slice to his jugular before he came to and realized what he had done in the heat of his white-hot agony.

It wasn't his fault.

It _couldn't_ be his fault.

It would never be Red's fault…right?

He could vaguely remember the adrenaline pumping through his system and the feeling of his own claws gripping at his sweat-slicked cheeks as he folded forward in the familiar shadows next to the pallid, cold body of the man he'd destroyed on impulse, his breathing escalating when he finally worked up some semblance of courage to pick through his bloodstained pockets and steal his information; a bar punch card, identification papers, a points card loaded with money from the Veloria Airbase. The worst of it all was the officer's pocketbook, a tiny, primitive strip of leather concealing a handful of old, outdated technology in the form of photographs of his plain, but beautiful, wife. Oh no.

Murder.

Pink blood leaking over fabric in warm, gushing waves.

Sirens blaring in the background when detectives had found the body stuffed under a toppling mountain of cardboard at the edge of the dump.

No, forget this. Forget it and push it out of your mind. Red took a deep breath and attempted to recollect himself when the cashier cleared her throat and tapped her manicured claws impatiently against the glass, the rhythmic drumming only setting Red further on edge. He swallowed against his scratchy throat and reached up to tug down what was left of his sleeve to conceal the obvious track marks flooding up his vascular system to give away his improvised drug habits, glancing up at the menu before stalling and holding out the unsuspecting points card with a cheesy grin. Say something you fool! Say something before she suspects that you're something erroneous and wrong! Whatever you do…_don't_ make yourself look like a murderer. One press of a button on her personal transmitter and the imperial police would swarm this little place and bust his kneecaps in with their thick nightsticks…or just shoot him in the back with searing hot plasma and be done with it. Did they know he had murdered? Did the _cashier_ know? Were they onto him or was it just a frenzy of paranoia swirling in his spooch from the overpowering stress of hunger pangs and pacifying guilt? Calm. He needed to be calm. He felt his smile twitch dangerously when his arm began to itch at the pincushion of an injection site, resisting the impulse to pick at his razed skin as he gingerly set the card down on the counter and finally composed himself, leaning against the polished glass as the drone narrowed her eyes and tentatively took the little bit of plastic to hold it up to the light for examination.

"Morning." He chimed up, trying to make casual, overbearingly normal small talk as she continued to run her scrutinizing gaze over each and every identification groove before looking up to meet his eyes for a brief, fiery moment. "I'd like a dozen glazed donuts, please. Regular. Well…hm. Could you throw in two chocolate as well? I haven't had that kind before and I'd like to try it at least once-"

"Sir, can I see your identification papers?" The cashier cut off his jittery ramblings and asked in a surprisingly level tone, standing as tall as she could when a visible nervousness flooded her senses and revealed the true extent of stressful anxieties beneath. "A-And I'd like to know your height."

Red blinked when a pang of dread hit him dead in the emaciated abdomen, nearly knocking him off his already tottering feet when he realized he hadn't taken the identification papers off of the officer to try and prove that the card was his, knowing in the back of his mind that he was going to have to book it. Stupid! How could he be so stupid as to forget the one thing he needed to use the damn card?! He braced himself, throwing out a well-placed chuckle and smoothing a clammy hand up over his alarmingly quivering antennae as he tried to rapidly think over his escalating situation. His mind wouldn't slow, pumped to the brim with uppers and electrifying as his PAK attempted to regulate his system to little avail. Geez, he needed to lay off the drugs…they made him feel worse every time and he couldn't handle the exertion of obsessive mistrust that always seemed to follow. He glanced over his shoulder when a shiver of electric pressure raced up the length of his spine, locking eyes with a single policeman sitting alone and looking him head to toe in confusion when he noticed the sorry state Red appeared to be in.

Shit.

"Ah…w-well…I'm five foot, three inches as of the last time I checked." Red stuttered honestly, swallowing down the hitch of nerve induced sickness threatening to break him down inch by inch and draw him away to run for his life.

Hold it together. It's just a question. There doesn't have to be an ulterior motive and she's not trying to turn you in. You're safe. You're safe. You're _safe_!

The little cashier nodded slowly, searching his piecemealed uniform for something she could use as identification as she memorized everything from his details to the vivid amethyst of his gaze staring back from under a damp brow. There was something lingering beneath her intentions as she shifted uncomfortably on her feet, throwing a hand up on the counter with a single knock that had Red thinking something….something was terribly amiss. He slid the card back across the glass with another, much more genial, grin this time, remembering his lack of dental work in the past few months and quickly letting it fade when the service drone sneered up at him in disgust.

_Look, lady, if you were homeless you'd be in the same damn boat as me._

"You're a pretty tall guy, huh?" She finally piped up, still refusing to meet his gaze as she hung back and declined to fill his order with her wavering body language. "Can I see your identification papers?"

Red felt like he was suffocating when the same impossible question split his personal, stifling atmosphere, sweating profusely in the warm, tepidness of the sweet-laced air pouring off the industrial ovens in the back of the shop. Did she know? Did the cop know? Were they playing him as a fool and trying to fish for information to take him down with? Paranoia. So much crawling and skittering through his mind that he could barely hear his own internal voice screaming over the deafening, strident boom of horror. Then, a single word.

Run.

He heard the sound of soft footsteps behind him, going rigid with petrifying terror as his pulse escalated to dangerous levels and threatened to drop him where he stood, forcing him to act impulsively and snatch back his precious lifeline of a card from the glass before throwing open his mouth to speak before letting it die on his lips as a soft, gruff voice piped up from below.

Run, now!

"There you are, Styx! I've been looking for you."

Wait a minute…who? Who the hell said that?

Red stared forward in dumbfounded bewilderment for a few moments longer as his initial fight or flight instincts stilled and smoothed over, jaw hanging pathetically limp as the little drone flew to attention and respectfully saluted the glistening rank stamped to the breast of someone short and squat. They had called him by name, Red's apprehensive gaze flicking down as he frowned in uncomfortable unsteadiness to meet the sickly green stare of someone so familiar to him but so distant. Gold silken robes fluttering gently against the tops of polished boots to show off the chosen color of their Empire's latest Tallest, officer's visor curling up to halfway obscure the time-worn smirk pressed kindly against his wrinkled face, two well-preened antennae firm against the tension stabbing painfully at the air. Red kept going, noticing the smell of sugary cologne invading his already blown out senses and nearly gagging him as he flew to haphazard attention on impulse and stood erect and moribund upon noticing the polished rank of Imperial Advisor cresting against the man's breastplate. That was the mark of Tallest Del, every curve and swell followed by the sharp angular features of his esteemed leader etched into fine gold mined off planet and smelted down into something that would bring even the most hardened politicians to their knees in shimmering, undying respect. Had he seen him before? Had they met in the Academy upon inspection? How the hell would someone so venerated and luxurious know him, a lowly, pathetic mess, by name?

The advisor threw his hands behind his back with a warm chuckle and nodded for Red to relax, turning back to the service drone with a flourish. "Please, madam, if you would kindly fill this man's order? He has just returned from the Callnowian front and is terribly exhausted, as you can see. Poor cadet got himself into a minefield, didn't you boy?" The officer lied smoothly through his teeth, only confusing Red further as he tried to piece together what was happening in the rapidly fluctuating situation. "If you could do this quickly, I would greatly appreciate it. We have business we must attend to elsewhere and I'd really not like to be hung up."

The drone didn't question further, scrambling over her own feet and nearly tripping as she hastily constructed a box and began filling it with scrumptious deliciousness as the officer placed a generous tip atop the counter and stood up on his toes to take the piping hot meal from the drone's awe trembling fingers, flashing her a final smile before passing Red the box and snapping for him to follow closely behind.

"Come now, we have much to discuss!" He sang, clapping his hands together and turning on his heel as Red stared absolutely speechless down at the dozen of mouthwatering pastries that had finally made their way into his shaky, glucose-deprived grip. "Did you hear me? I said move, soldier." The officer's tone rang out once more, prompting Red to keep his eyes down as he turned to unsteadily follow without a word.

Who _was_ this guy?

Red stepped nervously through the whoosh of automatic doors closing swiftly behind him, watching in a mixture of idiotic wonder and flagrant misunderstanding as the councilman tugged out a seat from one of the external tables and plopped himself down to pluck a transmitter from his PAK, holding it up before him to snap a photo of Red from afar. His fingers danced wildly across the screen as he shot off the image to an unknown second party, chewing on his bottom lip a bit as he mumbled something under his breath and periodically glanced up to examine Red in full from afar. He felt violated, as if the advisor were taking his measurements with his eyes and running his nauseating gaze over each and every rib exposed through the tattered material of his once beautiful uniform reduced to dust, forcing Red to impulsively cover his side with his palm when the attention on his bodily details became too much for him handle in the heat of the strange, unwarranted moment. He felt like a piece of meat hanging from a hook at the local butcher station, swaying in the breeze and waiting to pass over the muttering jowls of the mystery officer who had saved his ass just moments before but…but for what? Why?

Why?

"A-Are you…" Red took a deep breath followed by a step back. "A-Are you gonna kill me?" He blurted out without thinking, clutching at his box as if it were a lifeline and holding his breath when the officer met his gaze once more and gestured for him to move forward and take a seat across from him.

Red did as he was told but with great hesitation, terrified of the consequences should he try to make an escape and pound his way through the amassing crowd around them when passersby got wind of the immaculately trimmed robes of the man sitting on their measly sidewalks in such a desolate part of the city. Men stared and whispered amongst themselves while women snapped inconspicuous photographs from afar and attempted to piece together what was happening as Red gingerly lowered himself down and kept hold of his box as if it would melt should he let go, wanting nothing more than to dig into the feast he'd been so oddly gifted and munch away without a care. He decided against it, his antennae standing straight to the scent of caramelized glaze begging to stick to the pads of his fingers as he shoveled his face full of everything he needed and more, staring with apprehensive edginess as the officer payed him no mind and continued his slew of messages with a tiny smile upturned on his cheeks and the occasional 'ah-ha' when he would find what he was looking for.

Eventually, after what felt like grueling cycles for Red, the little advisor clicked off his device and set it down before him to bring his hands together atop the patchy metal of the weather-beaten table, looking up and watching Red with mounting fascination at the sheer rigidity of his statuesque posture.

"Are you going to eat?" He asked with calculated intention, the slow twitch in his steady green gaze alerting Red that there definitely _was_ something hiding beneath all the grandeur. "That's what you wanted, wasn't it? They smell delicious, so go ahead and take a bite."

Red instantly shook his head, refusing to open the box and take his careful attention away from the officer despite the screaming climb in intensity of stabbing hunger hitching and rebounding through his abdomen. No. He needed more information first. He would rather starve then let his guard down.

"Who are you?" He asked in as confident a tone as he could muster, renewing his posture and remembering what he was taught in the academy; the bigger you look, the more respect you'll earn from shorters. "I-I need to know how you know me."

Was this guy sent by the government to steal him away for killing an officer? He had maimed one of their own kind but…no. No. No more paranoia. That guy was only a recruiter, so there was no conceivable way that he would have been important enough for Del to send one of his own down to arrest him. That kind of venture took funding and time, something their leader wouldn't take lightly unless he was after something he desperately wanted to squeeze his sharp claws around before it popped.

Red cleared his throat when the officer returned to his transmitter, waving over the screen to unlock it before hunting for something specific as his guest leaned over the table and grew panicked the longer the silence droned on. "L-Look, if you want something from me…I-I don't even know what you'd want." He dropped his voice to a hushed hiss, periodically looking over his shoulder when the crowds made his antennae twitch. "Please, I don't care about the theatrics or the mystery, I just wanna know how you know my name. Am I in trouble?"

"My name, cadet, is Councilman Lire." The advisor finally admitted with a sigh, shooting Red a interested gape before furrowing his brow and returning to his electronic hunt. "And you are Styx of the Naphrus region. You've been dishonorably discharged from the Naphrus Academy due to an inadequate IQ evaluation and you've been living on the streets of Veloria looking for work for the past seven months. In that time you've become addicted to illegal morphine, steal bread from the corner store, and have committed…oh, very interesting." Lire blinked and flashed Red a warm smile. "Desperation does funny things to the mind, doesn't it? I would have never guessed that you'd have the gall to commit _murder_."

Red nearly came unglued, slamming his box down hard on the table and listening to the cardboard strain under the dig of his sharp claws digging into the corrugated sides as his blood pressure went back through the heavens and beyond. He hastily caught sight of the police officer sitting in the window finishing his lunch, hoping and praying to the gods that he didn't believe in that he hadn't heard anything.

"H-How…" He tried to catch his breath as Lire held up a hand to his wheezing, blinking through the sheer, overpowering terror ripping through his chest at being caught when the advisor slid his vivid screen across the table. "What the hell is this? How do you know so much about me?!"

Red snatched at the transmitter with unsteady, malnutritioned hands to hold it up and read frantically over his old Academy file staring back at him. He found himself absolutely fixated on his identification photo, the ghost of his past smile peaking on his face for a moment before fading completely when he slammed the device back down with a metallic thump to scare a few bystanders lingering nearby.

"I asked you a question! I don't care about your rank right now, or how powerful you think you are!" Red snapped, his irritation finally cresting when his need to survive arose once more. "Who the hell are you and what do you want with me?!"

Lire leaned back with a huff at Red's unsurprising insolence, pulling a tiny snackcake from the side pocket of his robes and fiddling with the wrapper. "You're just as rambunctious as they say, Styx. We've been monitoring you from afar for quite some time to see if you're a viable candidate for our first wave of negotiations with the Callnowian people." He explained vaguely, watching as Red scrunched up his face and cocked his head in annoyance. "Keep in mind that the treaty I'm about to explain to you hasn't ever been done by the Empire, and is still in the smeeting stages of blooming. In language you can understand, we don't know exactly what we're doing yet, but our wonderful confidante, Sen, has chosen you from the catalogue of violet-eyed Irkens we've given her."

"What treaty? You talk about me like I'm a model or something but I don't even have an agent!" Red growled, narrowing his eyes dangerously then stumbling back and nearly falling from his seat when Lire hopped up from is own and rapidly flooded over, taking him by the jawline and peeling back one of his eyelids to examine his eye color. "H-Hey! D-Don't touch me you freak!" Red swatted him away with a careful bat to the wrist before holding his breath when Lire grabbed him by the arm to stop his advances.

He could feel his steady pulse through his palm, a petite drum humming against Red's skin as they stopped, the world falling away to be replaced with terrified sickness opening up Red's internal need to run once more but freezing him where he sat. Lire stretched up on his toes, staring Red down for a long while before licking his cracked lips and speaking once more in a dangerous, malicious grumble that let Red know he no longer owned his own skin.

"You've been chosen, and I'll ask you kindly to come with me. I'm in…"

* * *

The Present; the Med Bay of the Massive

"…charge!" Red barked, shaking the beginning fringes of a terrifying flashback from his mind as he threw his fists up before him and stilled the nervous quiver in his fingers to appear as boisterously menacing as he could. "You heard me! I'm in charge now, and you legally can't touch me until we engage in combat!"

He glanced back to Purple, watching as he narrowed his eyes in disgust and glanced up to Del who had all but frozen in his tracks, slithering back like a slimy snake to straighten his pathetically contorted spine. They stood still for a long while, Red panting under his breath as his ocular implants flickered and kept close watch on Purple's vitals, his heartrate calm and collected as Lire took over his vascular system and instilled his own terrible nerves upon him to keep him under the calloused pad of his gnarled thumb to squash him like an insect. What was Purple feeling? Did he hurt? Did he ache worse in his pilfered body or in his razed soul stolen by his abuser? Could he see him? Could he feel Lire's nauseatingly disgusting body invading his skin and slipping him on like a coat? Red couldn't stand the thought of his love being trapped with the one individual in the galaxy that he feared the most, taking a step forward and reaching out with a careful palm to grab at Purple's thin shoulder before shrinking back when Lire gave him a hideous hiss from behind his lover's teeth. It was appalling…disturbing…disconcerting. Why the hell did Del think he wouldn't notice if Purple came back to him ruined and a threadbare image of what he had grown to become in the past week, all of his strength sapped and stolen by someone bouncing through every vibrating cell in his perfect body to take him at the most fundamental building blocks of everything that made him who Red had fallen for.

"You dare to challenge your Tallest, creature?" Del sneered, brushing lightly over Purple's shoulder when Lire flashed him a smug smile of approval at the danger in his musky tone, pushing off of his Tallest and stalking forward on feet that should have never been his own.

"It sounds like he's received a bit of help, Del, from the internal monster stuck inside my new mind." Lire cackled, flashing Red the same stoic twitch of his eye he'd noticed nearly four cycles in the past. "You're lucky your boyfriend here knows the Imperial Law, or else we would have been able to gut you and string you up like beautiful party décor." He tapped against Purple's temple for good measure, snickering when Red dropped his defenses and clenched his teeth in undeniable wrath.

Del thought a moment, glancing back over his shoulder with a sigh of well-masked, familiar defeat when he noticed the faint glow of his PAK recording systems kick on in his hardware and race along the edge of his lighted panels. The Control Brains would be listening, and Red knew for a fact that Del wouldn't be dumb enough to contest them or put his egotistical life on the line for something as trivial as a combat trial. He grimaced in tentative discomfort when he slowly looked back and smiled with a horrid, saccharine sweetness that had Red wanting to turn and vomit into the trashcan behind him, instead drawing a condescending eyeroll from him when he noticed his own systems had synced with his Tallest. They were being monitored until their stipulations for warfare were stated and decided upon, upon which time, Red would have twenty-four hours to prepare for the battle of his life, quite literally, his adrenaline shooting through his bloodstream as bruises flowered over his mottled skin and only set the hook of anger deeper into his heaving spooch.

He was supposed to be the one to make fun of Purple.

He was supposed to be the one to caress him with his hands.

He was supposed to be the one to save him from the terrors of this place.

They should have never come back…but it was far too late for regret now, wasn't it?

Red chewed lightly on the tip of his tongue as he thought, letting his mechanical leaders invade his PAK from millions of lightyears away on Judgmentia as his hardware beeped out it's compliance like an answering machine, a booming, strident voice resounding through his mind and laced with the mechanized hum of whipping tendrils and wires suspended in the background.

"We have received notice that a challenger has appeared to undergo ritual combat with Almighty Tallest Del of Veloria. Please state your name and your intentions to confirm."

Red had never heard the Control Brains in person, their sound so foreign yet so oddly familiar over his racing thoughts as they weaved their way like a knitted web through every fiber of what made him whole. It was almost spiritual, code leaking in tidal waves into his internal wiring and sprinting through his biology to prickle goosebumps over his imperfect skin. They would know. They would know who he really was and everything he'd done in the past; they would see his time posing as a General, his running with Purple through Callnowia, their first true kiss, his perilous sexual exploits outside of Moo-Ping 10, his agonizing eye enhancement under chemical and needle, and everything in between. They'd hear every terribly negative thought he'd had regarding Sen and realize that he'd defected from his position as consort to the Callnowian Empire to trade out Purple's life for his own. Ugh, when he thought of it that way he felt overwhelmingly guilty, a heaviness taking over each and every one of his extremities when he felt his leaders sift through memory after memory to land against the fateful day he was drafted and went to war, the day he scarred his body with his boot knife, and the day he committed cold-blooded murder in the reeking alleyway back in Veloria. They felt every emotion he'd felt; white-hot rage, cavernous depression, warmhearted love, blazing sexual tension, boisterous laughter.

Alright…it was now or never.

Red opened his mouth to shout out the back-breaking stipulations for warfare he'd decided upon, falling short when he felt a switch inside his PAK flip to light him up with a blinding shade of crimson, a central beep resounding through his antennae as Del stared blankly at his own hands in confusion.

Wait…huh? The ordinance didn't go through?! But he said it exactly as he'd been taught in the Academy! What…how…_why_?! Before Red could respond, the booming voice deafened his senses once more, drowning out his panic to replace it with deepening regret for something that had happened so long ago, ruining his chances to call Del into the arena. Why did he always fuck up? Why did every tiny twinge of forgotten karma come back to bite him when he needed it least?

"Displaced Worker Styx of Naphrus, we have found you to be in violation of three key points. Violation one; in the cycle 22788 you committed capital murder at the corner of Polaris and Sopria in the capitol city of Veloria. Violation two; in the cycle 22789 you were found to be a defector of the state when you left your coded role as Consort to the Callnowian Empire, putting you in direct defiance to your superiors and the high state. Violation three; In the cycle 22790 you have engaged in sexual contact with a designated Consort to the Callnowian Empire and were marked as an official defector to the state. You are unable to engage in ritual combat with Almighty Tallest Del until you face trial. Please designate a viable other to stand in your place."

Sexual content? But he didn't-oh. Lire had backed him up against the counter and touched him, breaking high law by controlling Purple's virgin hands for his own malicious values. And what was this about a viable other?

Did that mean he still had a chance at taking down Del once and for all?

"You…you're Styx? The _Styx_?" Del breathed from across the room as his face went slack to the dumbfounded sensation of guttural betrayal stabbing him through the back. "You've been hiding as a General under my antennae this entire time?!" Del reared back and slammed a fist hard into the wall to his right, knocking free a few rolls of gauze perched on the shelf behind him.

He went to lunge forward with a screech of fiery need to rip Red to shreds but hit an invisible wall and stopped, gripping at something that blocked his way when the Control Brains took complete jurisdiction over his body and halted him in his snarling tracks as Red came down off of the horrid fear that he was going to die. He gripped at his chest and doubled over to catch his breath once more as Lire stood dumbfounded, trying to figure out how on Irk he hadn't figured out who they'd been dealing with for the past six months and glaring back out of Purple's retinas to burn the deepest of holes into the side of Red's skull. The brains still wouldn't let them kill him off? But didn't they just say he wasn't allowed to call for combat?

"Displaced Worker Styx, designate a viable other to take your place in combat."

A viable other? There it was again…but he didn't have a viable other! He was on his own for the time being with Purple stuck with Lire floating around in his mind until…

That could work.

Red cleared his throat with a grin of devious understanding, knowing that this would be for the best even if it meant that his partner could die in the process. He had to get that disgusting little imp out of his thoughts and give him control of his body once more, standing tall and resolute as a renewed determination flashed behind his smoldering crimson gaze.

"Yes. I _am_ Styx, and I'm here to sink the teeth of justice into your throat!" He barked back, holding back a chuckle when he could almost hear Purple complaining about how cheesy his words sounded. He didn't care, continuing on and feeling every muscle in his body brace for impact. "I, Displaced Worker Styx of Naphrus, designate Callnowian Consort Nemi to take my place in combat against Almighty Tallest Del!"

Silence.

Then, violence.

Purple's PAK lit up like a star, lurching him forward to his knees as he wrangled with something unseen, Lire's hideous voice contorting in the back of his throat as he attempted to suck him free from his hardware and respond to the firing of neurons in his limbs taking him back to his last moments before he was invaded by the parasitic beast eating away at his sanity from within. He fell forward as Red rushed to his side with a yelp of blistering concern, running into the same undistinguishable partition Del had smacked face-first into as he reached out with flailing hands to grab for his partner when he began to twist uncontrollably against the existential struggle for his soul unfolding inside his spooch and beyond.

If Red was right about this…Lire would have to be deleted to keep in line with battle regulations. But Purple would have to engage in combat. No, don't worry about that right now! Right now he needed to free him from everything he feared!

"Purple, please! You're so much stronger than he'll ever be and I need you to fight this so we can fight him!" Red jabbed a panicked, frenzied finger in Del's direction as he tried to snap with sharp, gnarly jaws in his direction, opening up the venomous sacks in the back of his throat and spitting as Red cried out and flew back to avoid the acidic saliva they rarely used. "Come on, this is your only chance to take what's yours!" He took a deep breath and wavered, finally letting his partner know what he'd been harboring. "You deserve to be Tallest!"

* * *

Motion.

E-motion.

Everlasting gravity dragging him backdown to the surface of wherever he was colliding from within the innermost regions of his mind, Purple throwing his hands forward through the perpetual blackness surrounding him as a disturbingly unstable weightlessness took him over. He tried to cry out in the darkness, unable to hear the sound of his own voice as he choked and wavered, his bewildered stare snapping back to his hands as they ebbed and flowed in the viscous language of sporadic code, breaking away and reforming in his touch. He was being evaluated, scanned by some unwanted eye probing into the depths of his darkest demons and brightest flower fields before he was knocked back once more and thrown into a death defying spiral in the void he had come to know all too well. He felt a swift jerk tug him what he thought was upwards in his shocking lack of coordination and bearings, flooding his mind with the surging resonance of the Control Brains cleansing his blood and scooping into every cell in his body to pluck away the tiny shreds of Lire's DNA strain they found there before his whole biological body shuddered and went still. He tried to find something, anything to grab onto, trying with every fiber of his being to cry out for Red when he stole a fleeting glimpse of him struggling to make his way over to where his body began to sweat profusely against the sterile tile, his claws slamming down as he openly fought with Lire for dominance once more when he made a second attempt to override his PAK systems and take his shell of a body back into his own hands and claim it for himself.

Then…he was there.

_Lire_?

Purple's thoughts echoed faintly in the distance, giving him a strange, surreal sensation of divinity in the moment as he locked eyes with the coded demon breaking down his memories and eating him like a buffet of blood vessels and soft tissues, watching as Lire's visage twisted into something broken by the Control Brain's own hand, dissolving to nothing more than a skeletal pile of ashen dust and strings of wavering coded particles lingering in the atmosphere of…wherever this place was. Was this his mind? Why did it seem so vast and endless? Or was this his PAK? Purple swallowed, feeling himself raise from the solid mass beneath his feet and throwing his arms out for some sense of stability when he was transported down at lightning speed, throwing his hands over his face when he rapidly approached the back of his own eye sockets and slammed into something fleshy and hot.

Dizziness….so much discombobulated enervation. His irritation lingered for a moment when he grumbled against the floor in a pool of his own sticky drool, peeling back up on shaky arms as he spat to the ground and fell back forward. Disgusting…what? What was disgusting? Where was he? Who….ugh, his head felt swimmy and stuffed to the brim with cotton, every sound around him muffled as his mechanical leaders reset his internal systems from afar and brought him back to the present. Antennae? Twitching. Fingers? Gripping aimlessly. Voice? Cracked and broken as he sputtered nonsense in his native tongue and tried once more to slur his way up to a sit before plopping back down face first into his own goopy DNA.

"Consort Nemi of Veloria, your election for ritual combat has been confirmed and all contaminants in your code have been destroyed according to Imperial Irken Law." A feminine, robotic voice called through his faintly glowing PAK, alerting Del to the notice as well as he stumbled back to grip at the counter behind him when the realization that Lire's backup code had been completely obliterated. "In twenty-four hours time exactly you will be transported to Judgementia for controlled ritual combat against Almighty Tallest Del. What are your stipulations?"

Red rushed forward and knelt at Purple's side when his omnipotent rulers let him go, stumbling a bit as he rolled him onto his side and took his cheeks in his palms to smooth over his skin. "Pur? Pur, can you hear me?" He hissed, frantically searching his bleary features as the Control Brain repeated the same phrase in Purple's thoughts, growing impatient with his perceived insolence. "Hey, here, we'll sit up together."

Purple tried not to slump to the side when Red hooked his hands under his arms and heaved, hoisting him up into his ribcage to hold him close in a protective embrace as Del hung back and listened in catatonic shock as the Control Brains repeated their request the final time.

Purple shook himself free from his fog, reaching up and latching onto Red's shoulder as they locked eyes. See? He could see. He could hear everything. He could feel and smell and taste the tinge of blood on his tongue from where he'd bit down during his internal struggle with Lire. Ah, Lire…he was finally destroyed completely, nothing more than a string of fractured code in the back of the Control Brains' hardware and forgotten by all but Del himself.

"Red?" He mumbled, his voice dry and hoarse as Red scrambled to grab for his hands and press them to his lips to warm with his breath. "What the hell happened? I feel so gross."

"Purple?" Red breathed in response, pressing his forehead to his knuckles and laughing on a giddy, adrenaline fueled loop when his nerves finally broke and turned to something still anxious but relieved. "We have to stop coming together like this. You save me, I save you, your love for danger is gonna get us killed one day." He joked, peeking over his fingers with wide, glittering eyes and a tiny smile. "Welcome back to reality, asshole."

"Maybe if you wouldn't be so stupid, I wouldn't have to save you all the time." Purple jabbed lovingly back with a smirk, finally feeling his mind settle like sediment and glancing up to where Del stood half enshrouded in the darkness of the far corner, the faint glow of his PAK an eerie reminder that he was no longer allowed to harm him for the duration of the next twenty-four hours.

His Tallest couldn't do so much as spit in their direction without threat of execution himself, giving Purple the frame of mind to take his time getting to his knees with a labored huff. Red kept firm hold of his elbow, helping him to his feet and catching him when another wave of unforeseen vertigo hit him like a Voot, slamming into the back of his mind as the whole of the gloomy room spun for a moment longer.

"You. Both of you betrayed me and your people. Do you understand that I'm trying to help you achieve immortality?" Del hissed darkly, refusing to face them directly and stepping free from his perch in the corner, keeping his golden gaze averted out of fear he would do something rash and end up on the chopping block of their mechanized overlords. "You're making a mistake if you think you have the gall to take me. Styx may have had a chance but you, dear Nemi, I'll take my time with you."

"Shut up, Del." Red growled as Purple took a deep, shuddering breath and clutched at his belt when he threatened to dissolve like jello once more. "The only reason I don't get to take you myself is because all of your pathetic ordinances destroyed my life and drove me to make decisions I'm not proud of. Otherwise, I'd be out there on the battlefield feeding your organs one by one to a Schlorbeast."

"My what? Stipulations?" Purple asked to the atmosphere, listing intently before glancing up when Del finally met his lavender eyes with a searing, overpoweringly hateful stare of his own that made Purple's skin crawl. "Um…is there anything that I'm not allowed to pursue?"

There was a moment of silence as he listened to the Control Brains chattering over laws and explaining in depth regulations to him from afar, stating the only thing he wasn't allowed to take was the territory of another Empire he had no further jurisdiction over unless they went to war and stole it away for themselves. Ok…ok…he had to make this count for everyone in attendance.

"I have several stipulations." He began, moving before Red for protection should Del try to take out his rage on the only living thing he could touch in the room. "If I win, I want Sen of Callnowia and Styx of Naphrus to be cleared of all charges held against them as well as complete protections for the next twenty four hours. I also want to hold all rights as acting Almighty Tallest of the Imperial Irken Empire and to be cleared of all duties as a consort." He shrunk back a bit when Del threw his hands up in the air to pretend and choke the life from his trachea, continuing at his own risk when he heard the brains stall and process his information feed. "Finally, I want safe transport of myself, Styx, and Sen to Judgementia via the Massive complete with amenities including food, bunking, clothes, and my choice of weapons for the-"

"Weapons request denied."

Purple froze and glanced back to Red, opening his mouth to keep going and try and find a loophole within the ordinance when the brain spoke up to cut him off once more.

"Protections for Sen of Callnowia denied."

Purple scrunched up his face and stared up at the ceiling as if he'd see the glow of smoldering mechanical eyes hanging above him. "What?! Why? Why doesn't she deserve protections?!"

"It is outside our territory of rule to judge the actions of someone not of our own kind."

Purple threw out a hot, untamed curse under his breath, knowing Sen wouldn't last more than thirty short minutes once Del was able to leave the med bay and sink his teeth into her once and for all. She would be razed, cut to pieces, and shot into the void of space with no one to ever find her again…dammit. But, what else could he do? Sen had proven herself as an ally, but the lives of billions were at stake on Irk and Callnowia and Purple couldn't leave them to literally rot with foreign blood tainting their flesh until it melted clean from their bone.

"Fine. I understand." He finally mumbled, nearly choking on the lump of stress forming in his throat. "Do I retain permissions to keep my other requests active?"

There was a moment of thick, unnerving silence before the brains piped back up once more, chittering excitedly amongst one another before dinging out their approval and setting both party's hardware alight with the seal of Irken approval radiating just beneath their lighted sensors. The Brains didn't say anything else, they merely slithered back to undergo preparations for the first sequence of ritual combat in seven hundred cycles, leaving Purple with his own thoughts free of anyone else's hideous, fanatically institutionalized opinions. Lire was destroyed on the micro level, eaten away by the code of the very beings he had learned to serve and Purple still hadn't comprehended what had happened as he faded to dust and perished a second time before his eyes. He didn't feel as free as he'd hoped, the same nauseous anger welling up within him every time Lire's face appeared in his thoughts or his voice echoed through his still fresh memories. He wouldn't heal for a while, but at least this was something.

This was a start.

Del took a step forward, reaching out to test the boundaries of protections and finding he was completely unable to act upon the two, his undying hatred for Red only swelling when his pinched, sweltering gaze landed back on Purple and saw nothing but the consort he'd taken into his custody two cycle prior.

"You'll regret this." He said slowly, ushering them forward as he threw open the hatch for the medical pod and stepped out into the faint light of the corridor to admire the upturned mess Red had caused. "I'll execute you on the battlefield and burn Styx alive on the bridge of the Massive to set an example of you both. Do you know what fire feels like once it hits your skin, defector?"

Purple noticed Red grimace in obvious discomfort, reaching back and taking his hand to lead him along proud and tall as the, hopeful, next successor to the dictator they'd come to hate more than anything in their current existence.

"If you so much as touch him, I'll slit your throat in your sleep tonight." Purple threatened, knowing full well that Red had less importance to the Control Brains than he did at the moment. "He's mine, and I say what happens to him."

Del took the menacing warning lightly, blowing it off with the flick of a wrist as he descended down the narrow hallway and instructed a confused service drone nearby to unfortunately house the two while they waited out their sentence. Purple held firm, keeping hold of Red's fingers as the squat medical drone raced back to where they stood and removed her mask, stripping it away and tossing it to the side before anxiously bowing out of respect when the mass notice was finally drilled into each and everyone's PAKs for them to read over at their frantic dispositions.

Red kept his gaze down as they followed the tiny worker around amassing crowds of curious, but visibly frightened onlookers, listing to the bog and slog of horrid remarks thrown back in their faces when officers noticed Red was clutching at the claws of Empire property, their still young relationship receiving scoffs and hatred around every weathered corner and pipeline.

"I'm sorry." Red mumbled from behind, too ashamed to pick up his pace and fall in line at Purple's side. "I didn't know how to get that monster out of your head and that was the only way I could-"

Purple brought his free hand to his lips and shushed his jittery partner, hoping to calm his deepening dread but knowing it wouldn't do much to help. "Don't worry. We've still got twenty-four hours to figure this out, Red. That's a lot of time to formulate a plan to finally end this. Just think, I'll be Tallest soon and I'll make you an actual General like you dreamed."

A tiny ghost of a smile peaked on Red's face but quickly faded to something cold and distant as his grip tightened. "It should have been me. Because I messed up, I'm gonna get you killed." He clamped a hand over his mouth then swiftly let it fall back to his side when one of his past coworkers laughed openly in his face from the sidelines. "Pur, let's be realistic here; there's no way in hell that you're gonna be able to take on Del! You're a sharpshooter, not a fighter!"

Purple shrugged, still miles away from catching up to the intensity of what had just transpired and unsure of what would happen to his sluggish mind when it all caught up and smacked into him like a freight train. "Well…like I said, we have twenty-four hours. I won't be allowed to take weapons from the ship, so I'll have to put something together myself." He stopped when a sudden idea came over him in waves, giving him a bit of hope for the future as he spun on his heel and grabbed Red firmly by the shoulders to halt him in his tracks. "You were top of your class in hand to hand combat, right?"

Red didn't know what to say, sputtering as his nerves got the best of him and faltered. "U-Um, yeah? But what does that have to do with anything? _You're_ fighting, not me!"

Purple yelled out a victory cry and flew forward to squeeze Red around the abdomen in a tight, ecstatic embrace. They had a chance. They had a chance afterall!

"P-Pur? Talk to me, use your words, idiot!"

"Teach me."

"T-Teach you what, exactly?"

"Teach me how to kill Del."

* * *

Thank you for coming to this next update of Fire in the Snow! I hope you enjoyed and as always, I'll read all of your reviews and appreciate them immensely! I'm going to be posting on Mondays now, because it's not conflicting with my new work schedule since quarantine got my country messed up, so I hope to see you all again!

**Next Update: Monday, May 11, 2020 by 10:00 pm CDT (UTC -5)! See you then!**


	23. Heal Me With Your Hands

Welcome back to this update of Fire in the Snow! I am so happy so many of you reappeared after my hiatus, and thank you so much for everything you've done for me and all of the lovely reviews no matter how detailed or short you leave! I love them all equally, and take all of your feedback into account when making these chapters! I love you all!

CHAPTER IS NOT BETAED. MINOR SPELLING AND GRAMMAR MISTAKES MAY BE PRESENT.

**CHAPTER RATED HARD M (PLEASE SEE WARNINGS); This chapter is rated hard M for mature and includes _explicit sexual content_ between of age adults, graphic depictions of nudity, brief heavy language, past mention of rape/sexual violence, reference to PTSD, heavily suggestive themes, and general adult content! **

* * *

Purple felt every bone in his body sag with heavy dread when he spun Red on his heel and tugged him out of the way just in time for the tiny medical drone to shove them into a pathetically unfurnished engineer's dorm in the winding belly of the ship they'd traversed for the past hour, collecting food on the way when they were given permission for a quick snack grab when Purple raised complaints about the service. One slip up against him and the Control Brains would be all over Del like flies to honey, eating him alive from the inside of his code out but that didn't stop the drone from following orders as a sulking Tallest trailed a few feet behind them to burn holes against his freckled skin and give the order with a furious flick of the wrist, locking them tight in their temporary home for the next twenty-four hours.

Red hadn't said much as Purple banged irately against the door of the frigid hatch, gripping at the wiring to the side of the control panel and tearing it to pieces with his claws as he let loose a torrent of violent curses in his wake before throwing his sharp claws in the air with a shout to pace the perimeter of the room. Red had followed, giving suggestions to talk down the unbearable nervous electricity sparking in the air when they realized just what they'd gotten themselves into. Purple would have to face Del, the strongest, tallest, _cruelest_ of the Almighty Tallest and he had been denied a request for a weapon from the booming voice of the Control Brains. Surely, Del would be allowed something fantastic and body-razing, giving his long fingers and impressive height a surefire advantage towards spilling his organs to his feet before the whole of the Empire around them. It would be a gnarly, nauseating bloodbath, Purple spilling every precious drop of his treasured lifeforce to the chilly, callous platform they'd be forced to battle upon, and there was no telling what perilous dangers their equally brutal mechanical kingpins were preparing for the two to catch them off guard. A meat-thirsty Hogulus? A slew of shorters with kitchen knives? Ok, maybe that last one was a bit of a stretch, but every dark, disturbing fantasy creeping into the back of his mind as Red stopped him and held him silently in the center of the room only put the sharp pang of utter, unabridged trepidation in the pit of his throbbing spooch and alerted him to how much he truly wasn't prepared for something as terrifying as mortal combat with a Tallest. Sure, Del had passed his prime by nearly three hundred cycles, but he had retained his lean muscle and speed combined with the experience of hideously faulty leadership made him a virtual killing machine capable of guzzling the soul of anyone who dared shoot a hot look in his direction.

Irk what had they gotten themselves into?

Red had let go and reassured him on a repeated, trusting loop that he _was_ strong enough, that he _was_ fast enough, and that they _would_ unlock his hidden potential hanging just beneath the surface of his prickling skin as he positioned Purple at one stagnant end of the room and took his own battle stance at the other, throwing up his fists and bracing himself for impact when he shouted for his partner to hit him with everything he could possibly muster. The encouragement and mounting spark between them only grew, Purple laughing his way through their first dozen sparring matches and bursting into body-shaking mirth every time Red placed a well time sweep to the back of his knee and swept him, quite literally, off of his feet before extending a hand down and tugging him back up to start once more from the beginning.

That was seven hours ago.

Breathe and follow the pattern he taught you.

Flow like bromine, paint the canvas of death and destruction with your formidable claws and focus only on the burn of glowing golden eyes you've come to hate with every miniscule fiber of every moral tucked away deep in your psyche. Del was wrong. Del was sickening. Del was evil. The crowd will be cheering and jeering alike, throwing pathetic globs of trash to distract them both from the primitive entertainment of icy combat, but Purple couldn't afford to take his piercing gaze from his target for fear of demise. The mortality rate of combat involving a Tallest was over 91%, giving him a mere 9% chance of actually severing his captor's wiry smile from his shoulders and holding him by the antennae for his esteemed overlords to scan with presumably impressed sensors and appoint him the next Almighty Tallest of the Irken Empire.

How the hell had they come to be here?

Eight hours.

Why did Red have to elect him of all people? Why did he feel so tired?

Nine hours.

The novelty of landing on his side had faded away some time ago, leaving Purple numb to the world and Red's voice alike as they grew exhausted with one another and took a break only to come back angrier then before with the unwarranted stress taking hold of their buzzing minds and contorting them to something inirken at best. They were both so repulsively drained, limbs physically disoriented and dazed as they took their routine spots and forced themselves to keep going for the benefit of hazy practice, Red's swings decreasing in blistering intensity with every droning minute they shared until they were all but forced to take a break for a ridiculous excuse for a meal in the form of crackers and a mystery juice before taking up the distressing tedium once more with renewed fervor.

Ten hours.

Neither of them spoke. Their voices had died away at the seven hour timestamp and the awkwardness of being stuck together in a confined space like caged tigers was wearing thin. Purple's patience was threadbare, every snicker from his once lovely partner turning him sour with a sarcastic snicker of his own that seemed to drive Red so far up the wall that he couldn't see straight and became sloppy in his motions. He could see him visibly bristle, the vent scales on his elbows flaring slightly in the low light as he scoffed silently back in his direction and grumbled in the back of his dry throat, the sheer force of stress and physical exertion getting to his supportive mantra and obliterating it completely to leave nothing behind but the uncomfortable stare he'd given him the first hour they'd met. Purple's own thoughts swam with untamed curses he somehow continued to contain, thrashing against his own words for Red's benefit when they engaged in ritual combat once more and opened up the dance that never seemed to end.

Eleven hours.

Eventually, there was a pattern to the madness, a coordinated barrage of falsely fatal attacks switched up by his heaving partner as he collected himself and refused to falter, flying forward for what felt like the thousandth time to snatch Purple by the shoulder and flip him hard onto his back. He was prepared this time, adeptly skirting out of the way to counteract Red's obsessive battering with a brutal hit of his own to the side of his ribs, feeling the valuable atmosphere flood from his lungs under his touch before he caught him completely off guard with a well-placed war cry that would set anyone's blood to curdle in their veins, his time-destroyed muscles burning with powerful lactic acid as he finally tackled Red around the thin waist and pinned him on his front to force the side of his face into the frigid metal of the exacting floor beneath them.

Red hissed and threw him off, puffing up to his fullest extent before dialing back his offensive and remembering their training, moving to flop face forward on their prestigiously made up bed with a low groan of defeat as Purple laughed back haughtily in his face with a touch of condescending idiocy to speak for the first time since they'd gone into some semblance of a lurid trance together.

"What's wrong, Red? Can't handle the heat anymore?" Purple chuckled, letting his wide victory smile fall flat when his partner refused to meet his gaze. "Hey, I'm _talking_ to you, so look at me!"

Red shook his head with another throaty growl, digging his claws into the base of his antennae to squeeze as he forced his face deeper into the mattress. What the hell? Why was he suddenly so unresponsive? He rolled onto his side after a few long moments followed by the annoying tap of Purple's snow boot, glaring up from below with a sneer before halfheartedly kicking his way up to the head of the bed to somewhat cocoon himself in the comforting softness of breathable cotton sheets. Purple narrowed his eyes, pursuing him around the side of the frame and hovering over him with a dastardly pout when he realized Red wasn't in the mood for praise, a complete 180 from when they'd gone into this mess together.

"Red? Red! What the hell is wrong with you?" He reached down and prodded him in the shoulder, yelping when he was met with a swift bat of the wrist and another confusing round of misunderstanding that had his own frustrations peaking. "Did I do alright?"

Nothing.

"Red?"

Silence.

"Irk, why are you being such a smeet about finally losing?! Isn't that what we were supposed to achieve here?!"

With that, Red flew up from his sheath, nearly ripping out his own antennae in the process as he slammed a hand down hard on the plush cushion beneath him, staring up at his partner with a wrathful intensity Purple hadn't seen since their fight in the forest. It sent a chill down his spine, forcing him to take a step back as his partner opened his mouth to speak then let it falter, merely laying back down and refusing to let go what was plaguing his busy, fast-paced mind. What…what did he do? Did Red not want him to win? No, that wasn't it. He would never put Purple in harm's way if he didn't think he had a shot and undermining whole of the Empire…right?

Now Purple wasn't so sure.

He swallowed his own mounting anger and elected to sit instead, reaching out and wincing when he felt his own muscles give in to the torture they'd undergone but keeping on to run a silvery, smooth tough over Red's shoulder. He trailed up to the side of his face with a claw, trying to elicit a response, a smile, a blink…_anything_, but still receiving the silent treatment. He kept on, laying back and forgoing his internalized need to shudder away by wrapping himself around Red's form and shakily taking him by the waist to draw him in from behind, his entire body screaming with a need to move away when the affection became too much but holding firm when his partner finally spun in his touch to face him directly. Red searched his face for a few long seconds that felt like an eternity, a sudden, blindingly exasperated but infinitely depressed flash sparking behind his ocular implants and only bewildering Purple further when he didn't understand what was unfolding between them. He tugged away to a comfortable distance once more, the lingering touch of Red's sudden grip on his hand telling him to run but also assuring him to stay in the same short breath.

"Sorry. I needed a minute to…well…think about all of this." Red finally mumbled, breaking the tension once more for something softer and unexpected, Purple's own worry and frustration leaking away when he slowly wiggled his fingers free from his partner's vice-like grip to hang at the edge of the mattress and listen. Red continued, used to Purple's impulsive need for space by now and instead bringing his own claws together on his chest to toy with them as he thought. "I let you win, Pur."

Huh?

Purple wasn't following, blinking in surprise at the sudden confession smacking him in the jawline out of nowhere and turning him to dust, swallowing thickly around the anxious lump forming in his throat at the connotation that held.

"Let me win? Ha! Y-You're just jealous that a someone bred for sniping took you down at your own game!" He laughed back, trying desperately to smash through the incredible layer of ice Red had shoved between them as his persistent angst stabbed at his mind. He reached out and took Red by the cheeks with his fingers, pretending to make him talk and putting on a poorly done impression of his gruff voice as he laughed. "Oh, Purple, you're so strong and powerful! Please protect me from this awful place and carry me away to the Green like a beautiful princess because I'm sooo weak!"

Red struggled to pull him off, a glimpse of a smile peaking on his exhausted face at the sound of Purple's pathetically done impersonation, allowing him a single huff of a laugh before holding his hand close to his skin once more. He pressed into the pads of his fingertips as he averted his gaze to the steaming piping of the ceiling, following every curve and contour with his fretful gaze before sighing and turning back. Oh no. He didn't have to reiterate himself, Purple smacking himself in the forehead with a groan of excruciating, boiling defeat when he realized Red truly wasn't joking to preserve his own mile-high pride. He truly had let him win, hadn't he?

"You've got to be kidding me." Purple began, letting his fun dissolve to be replaced with something else he couldn't pinpoint beyond the sensation of resounding misery, plucking his claws back from Red's cheek and slinging himself up to force his worn body to pace. "We trained for what, ten hours? Eleven?! And I still can't beat someone the same height as me?!"

Red sat up amidst their pillows, clenching his jaw to the sound of his other half so distressed and flinching when Purple grabbed for a fluffy blanket to chuck it halfway across the room in a fit of exasperated fear. "Pur, listen, maybe we can-"

"No, Red, there's no listening anymore, there's no training, there's none of you reassuring me to be something that obviously can't become in twenty-four hours! This is training that takes cycles and I'm trying to do it in a single day! It's impossible!" Purple shouted back with a bit more force then he'd warranted, taking a deep, blistering breath when Red narrowed his eyes and threatened to yell back. "Look, I'm sorry I'm so frustrated, and I'm not upset with you. I'm upset with this whole unavoidable situation we're stuck in and the stupid fact that we can't ever seem to break away from the violence of this damn place!" He moved forward and kicked the wall with the steel toe of his boot, feeling it crack against his already sore toes and slinging himself down to the floor to work them off. "I can't take this life anymore, and I'm not going out there to fight Del."

Red followed, scooting himself to the edge of the mattress and standing to follow his own haphazard gait to where Purple had slogged, stooping to help him unlace his swollen ankles from the faux leather of cheap Callnowian fashion before massaging into his pained muscles in, hopefully, soothing circles.

"Do you have a choice at this point? If we try to leave, the Control Brains will have our heads on a literal spike." He pointed out, just as unnerved with their situation as his partner. He continued his soft, restful pressure, listening to Purple unconsciously sigh when he plucked his other boot free and helped prop him up against the wall. "We're bred for combat so if you fight, at least we have a chance of beating this mess once and for all. I want to walk away as much as you do and I want nothing more than to take your place out there on Judgementia but…I can't. I know you know that."

"You don't have to tell me what I already know." Purple muttered, letting his head fall back against the wall as he closed his weary eyes to the weight of the universe. "All I'm saying is that there's no way that I'm walking out of this alive and…a-and maybe that's for the better."

Purple yelped in shock when Red landed a firm smack to his calf, flying down to rub at his sore skin when his boyfriend leaned forward and threw a wild, white-hot finger back in his face at his absurd wish for a swift end.

"Don't ever say that again!" Red snapped harshly, slinging his hands forward on Purple's knees to keep him in place when he tried to stand and evade the argument that had been festering for a few hours between them. "You're always talking about wanting to die because of everything everyone else has put you through, but you deserve so much better! I know how hard it is to get up in the morning and look at the world that has literally torn you to pieces and face it, but you have to face it for yourself!" He was almost pleading at this point, continuing when Purple opened his mouth to retort but keeping him silent. "I was laughed at for my IQ, I ate trash on the streets, and I murdered someone I didn't even know! On top of it all, I lied to my Empire and posed as a General after defecting from my coded duty as a consort but you know what? I don't give a shit! I know who I am and…and I think I know who you are better than you do right now!"

Purple had had enough, forcing himself up and nearly faceplanting when his legs turned to painful jelly. "Oh yeah?! This isn't a competition over who's suffered more and I don't need you yelling at me right now! I'm trying to hold all of this together but you have no idea what it's like to be me!" He shouted back, throwing a hand in the air when Red stalked forward and followed his ritual pacing once more. "I'm sorry that you went through all of that, and it's just as terrible as what I've experienced, it really is, but I was raped, Red! _Raped!_ I know it may seem like I'm all hung up on it, but it invades your mind and destroys your self image for the worst and you can't ever begin to understand how long I've thought about ending my life just to get away from the replay in my head when I sleep!" He continued on, feeing his emotions betray him as he let loose everything he kept carefully concealed. "I was starved too and had to live off of my sheer desperation to live for over two cycles of torture and I don't wanna do it anymore! I can't live like this!"

Red tried to find an answer, resorting to dropping his tone when he fell to the jaws of snapping defeat, moving away and sitting back on the edge of the bed to sling his head into his palms, curling forward and letting his once rigid antennae fall limp over his knuckles. "But you have to live." He whispered simply, his emotion carefully concealed and unnaturally tamed as Purple spun to face him with a hot look of his own. "You have to."

Have to. What a strong phrase.

"Ugh! I'm sick and tired of everyone else telling me what I have to do and what I don't! It's like I don't have any free will in this place, do I?! I didn't have it with Del, I didn't have it with Lire, and I want to believe I have it with you but sometimes I feel like you're ordering me around just like they did!" Purple bit, gritting his teeth and feeling his jaw pop under the force of his own internalized self-loathing as he continued to batter Red with everything he had. "If you think you know who I am, I wanna hear it. What am I to you, Red? Huh?!"

Red froze, slowly looking back up before immediately tearing his shocked stare away, forcing Purple to relax a bit when he realized he was taking out his rage on someone who didn't deserve it. He waited a long moment, letting himself finally simmer back down when Red merely returned his face to his hands without another words, halfheartedly gripping at his bone structure as he took a deep shuddering breath and held his world together without crumbling. He was so strong…he'd been through so much and maybe…just maybe…Purple was internally jealous of that. He was envious of the independence Red seemed to radiate, of the incredible sense of autonomous skills and clever trades he'd learned in his time on the street. Red had a sense of how to survive in the wilderness of the Irken Empire and of how to overtake anyone with enough gall to come after him in the future, giving Purple an undeniable sinking feeling that he should have been the one to take on Del.

If he had taken Purple's place, maybe they had a chance at surviving this mess.

Now, Purple was going to get Red and Sen killed and let Del and Ipi overtake the whole of their collective armies with their blood all because he was too weak to keep up a steady fight.

Why did he have to be so feeble?

Did he need someone to hold his hand through life?

He blinked when his last thought brought on something unexpected within him, diverting his gaze down to his palms as he glanced over every worn crease of his hands and noticed how uncalloused they truly were. He was soft, given a life of unimaginable luxury in the form of physical and mental torture and kept in the dark so long his skin had turned supplely translucent, one poke setting his capillaries to burst and delicately bruise.

Did he need someone to hold his hand?

The same question resurfaced no matter how many times he attempted to swallow it down like a pill, taking a step forward and thinking long and hard over what Red had told him. He had to live. But why? Was he living for himself? Well, yes, in a sense. He needed to keep himself breathing to keep his blood pumping and out of the hands of those who wanted to use it for their malicious intent. But was he also living for someone else?

Oh.

An awful, radiant clarity overtook Purple's anger and pacified it to something mildly acidic as he took another step, slowly lowering his burning muscles down next to the only other who had ever shown him any form of kindness. He was fighting the wrong person, gingerly taking Red by the wrist to peel his fingers away from his salty, sweat-slicked face and noticing the monumental effort it was taking his partner from breaking down and giving in himself. He was putting everything on Red's shoulders to carry, forcing him to take on the burden of his own mental insecurity when those very feelings dissipated and ceased to exist when they were joking together or sharing some semblance of a meal. What was this feeling? He'd said it to Red before out of habit, telling him he loved him to pump up his own ego but unsure of what he felt, taking his jaw between his thumb and his forefinger to deeply examine his features for the millionth time. Purple had promised himself long ago that he wouldn't love. Love was messy and dangerous and, at the time, something that could have gotten him executed for ruining his purity in the name of unadulterated, uncut emotion. He was a prize to be won like a trophy, not a man to be loved. He was an object to be owned, not an individual to be cherished. But now….now….what?

Now there was a man as broken as he was.

Maybe those broken pieces could help to fill his own holes.

Maybe _his_ broken pieces could help to fill Red's.

"Holy shit…" He breathed, holding Red in place when a spark of confusion overtook him and made him a bit nervous in his touch. "You…who knew it was going to be you?"

"W-what?" Red mumbled plainly, a hint of concern lacing his tone. "What's wrong? What was gonna be me?"

Purple sat static and unsure, his mind racing when he realized what he was about to say and still fearing the weight behind his words. He was going to die. He was going to go out onto the battlefield and give his life to hopefully save thousands, if he was lucky, and watch Del laugh above him that maniacal laugh he'd spat back in his vision for cycles upon cycles. But, on the off-chance that he somehow won and kept Red and Sen safe, he would be appointed as acting Tallest of the Empire, giving him elective privilege to rule over every inch of territory in his jurisdiction under the watchful gaze of the Control Brains. What would become of Sen? Would she go back home and help him wage the war against his mother and the rest of Callnowia for their inexcusable crimes? What would become of…o-of Red? Purple had promised to make him the General he'd always dreamed of becoming before he fell so stupidly short a few meaningless points on an IQ evaluation, leaving him to feel worthless and ashamed of everything he was and everything he would become in the future and breaking Purple's soul every time he imposed his own self-hatred upon himself as internalized punishment. Red was so intelligent, so formidable, so needed. Should he say that? Should he say the very phrase that was on his mind that kept them tethered at the seams to race this diabolical track of misery together towards wherever they'd end up?

Say it.

"I…nothing's wrong…I think." Purple breathed, lingering much longer than he intended against Red's skin as he faltered and choked on his own articulacy for once.

Red had been there for a while, lingering in his gloomiest shadows to keep Lire in line and ensure he didn't kill Purple on accident with the roughness of his torture, knowing his now partner wanted nothing more than to spring forward and preen his antennae with his hands after he'd been half-drowned or slit Lire's throat as a gift before they left this place forever and never looked back. But again, here they were. The Massive must house their destiny, drawing them back in together like a swirling vortex and tying them down to the bottom of the ocean until they faced the music of who they were meant to be. Whoever the hell that ended up being. It was nearly unbearable to think about, suffocating Purple under the weight of responsibility when he realized he would never be normal again, that his mind had been twisted and razed by someone with the need to satisfy his hideously insatiable desire to breed him to a loud, one sided orgasm. Lire was gone, but the trauma was still fresh, haunting Purple with every ghost of a touch over his knee or brush of his lips against Red's no matter how much he enjoyed it. But still…there was something about Red that made him feel whole.

There was something about Red that made him feel safe.

Say it.

"Are you going to hold on to me all day or can I lay down and try and get a bit of rest before we spar again?" Red half joked, grazing his fingertips up the length of Purple's arm and stopping when he realized the touch may be too much. "Hey, Irk to Pur. You gonna let go or are we stuck like this forever, now?"

Say it.

It was now or never.

Purple didn't respond, his mind swimming as it raced with what if's and terrorizing fantasies of his uncertain future, cramping his psyche like a muscle and giving him a bit of a headache in the back of his skull. He couldn't say it, feeling it linger on the tip of his tongue when he tried to speak but unable to release it from his throat into the atmosphere as something beautiful and real for once, instead of deceitful and impure. Maybe it was the uncleanliness he felt. Maybe it was the sense that he didn't deserve to mean something so heavenly euphoric. No, he deserved it, and so did Red.

Say it!

Do it now!

"Fine!" Purple shouted back at his own screaming thoughts, startling Red and feeling him lurch in his careful hold as his pulse escalated and pounded up through his already quivering antennae.

Was he sweating? Ew, could Red smell his stress? Was he giving off pheromones that gave away what he knew now to be an odd, slightly unnerving, fact? Ugh, quit stalling! You've already said it before, so it should be a piece of cake at this point! But…b-but now you mean it. Now it was real. Now it had the weight of a hammer crashing down to irreparably change the already unstable weave of your future.

"Ok, you're really starting to freak me out. Who the hell are you talking to?" Red asked, a bit nervous to pull away when his partner continued to mumble to himself. "Shit, did I break you? Dammit, are your PAK language centers malfunctioning or something-"

"I love you."

Purple held firm, standing his ground when his own mind threatened to buckle and draw him away like a slug from sizzling salt, keeping his grip on Red's jawline and relaxing his hold when he noticed his mouth clamp shut mid-sentence. He waited, letting his boyfriend process the information he'd already told him a good handful of times, knowing the undeniable sincerity to his tone changed things and let Red know just how deeply he'd dug under his skin. He felt it. He felt him miles beneath the surface wrapping his protective embrace around his wounded sense of self and restoring it piece by piece to make him into a rational, whole individual for once. He was…he was Purple. Red had shown him that he no longer needed to be weak, terrified Nemi, but someone so much greater that he could learn to appreciate.

Red and Purple, huh?

Together they could become one and paint the universe magenta with the blood of their enemies slipping beneath the rubber soles of their opulent boots; a Tallest and his General…a lover and his love.

"I…I love you." Purple breathed once more when his partner smoothed over his own antennae with a shaky palm, trying to rid his stalks from the noise he never thought he'd hear and finding that it was indeed real.

"Really?" Red mumbled back, gripping at Purple's wrist when his emotions threatened to betray him, holding him close for fear that he might slip away and finding comfort in the warmth of his hands when he felt unexpected, salty tears prick in the corners of his eyes. "Y-You…you love me?"

Purple nodded with a haphazard, anxious smile when Red folded forward and buried his face into his neck to squeeze around him, sniffing against him as he felt a gentle, warm wetness lick at his already flushed skin. If this was love, why did it hurt? Maybe…maybe love was supposed to hurt before it got better as wounds were stitched and mended by the tender care of one another and the defibrillator of companionship shocking them back awake. For once, Purple didn't pay any mind to his internalized agony to run, returning Red's embrace with a tight, sincere hug of his own before letting his partner lean his weight against him and sob openly for the first time since Tak's death. He felt Red let go everything festering in his chest for cycles upon cycles of weighty, excessive torment and drunk in his pain like it was his own, feeling his own sadness swell and crest as he pressed his cheek to his partner's and too sobbed openly about everything he'd kept secret. It hurt…Irk it hurt so much but it was also refreshing like a chilling nitrogen rain, washing away cycles of hurt to reveal the raw wound beneath that still hadn't healed properly and wouldn't for some time to come. But now, maybe they both had a chance and finding normalcy again.

Purple felt his breath hitch when Red pulled back and gingerly brought their lips together, holding them there to move against him and try and to stimulate some form of reaction in the heat of the moment, his hands moving up to caress at the back of Purple's neck and elicit the sensation of chilly goosebumps to prickle over his body in waves. He stiffened, feeling his pulse lurch in his throat as he let it happen and tried to keep himself from panicking when his stress response went haywire and told him to bring his sharp claws out to fight, remembering that he was in no real danger and squeezing his eyes shut as his partner continued to leisurely move against his still lips, sighing softly through his own tears before blinking in confusion when Purple finally pulled away and tried to distract against his fears by wiping Red's cheeks with his shaky palms.

"Y-You're all sticky and disgusting now." He pointed out flippantly, unsure of what he'd just said but desperate to hide his own innocence even after it had been ruthlessly stolen in the past, feeling his partner's hands land back against his shoulders to tug him forward once more with a yelp. "W-Wait! I-I don't…what are you doing?"

Purple couldn't deny the obvious look of disappointment bogging down Red's expression when he smiled back and remained faithfully patient, keeping true to his promise to wait for his permission and quickly moving his hands back to the comforter between them. He was so kindhearted under all that anger, so irresistibly enduring to every wince and mumble of disapproval Purple gave him under his breath, relaxing the air to something sweet and sluggish. Purple felt his antennae crane forward when they picked up the scent of pheromones lingering from the tips of his partner's, finding himself craning forward ever so slightly to get closer to the balmy, temperate sweetness of the mouthwatering scent.

Damn him.

From the beginning of their official meeting and beyond, Red had always had a knack of smelling delicious. Whether it was artificial with the use of cologne or his biological aroma giving away the deep, irrefutable needs his body craned desperately for, he smelled incredible.

Again…damn him.

"Ah, sorry. I get a little carried away sometimes." Red began, putting his hands up in defense as he shuddered back across the comforter and attempted to put some much needed, but not wanted, distance between the two. "I know this kind of stuff makes you uncomfortable, and we probably have training to get back to-"

"What kind of stuff?" Purple asked suddenly before he could stop himself, surprised at his own out of character curiosity for Red's motives but still finding himself moving closer. He wavered a moment, his fingers itching to reach out and entwine with his partner's but still hitting an internal wall. "What kind of stuff are you talking about?"

Red instantly flustered, smacking his hands over his flushed face and turning away when Purple scooted ever closer out of genuine perplexity for what his idiotic partner was getting at. "N-Nothing! It's nothing so don't worry about it and just…just go get set up for sparring!" He half demanded, peeking between his fingers and groaning in humiliation when he noticed Purple had closed the gap between them once more. "Geez, ok! S-Stuff like…eh…" he waved a hand with incessant nervousness as he attempted to say his motives delicately. "I dunno…just stuff that people do when they love each other."

Purple let a tiny smile peak on his weary face, wiping away his remaining tears on the back of his hand when his sadness was replaced with the brightest warmth he'd felt in ages. He was determined to make it last, and whatever Red was doing, was somehow working. Maybe if he probed a bit more, he would get another burst of serotonin he so urgently craved.

"You love me? Well…I-I've never been in love before." He said plainly, only fueling the stifling awkwardness the atmosphere had slipped into.

"I-I haven't either."

"So…"

"So…what?"

"Stuff."

"What stuff?"

"Stuff that people do when they love each other. If we're in love, shouldn't we do that too?"

It must have been something Purple said, Red groaning again and falling back onto the mattress to grab for a pillow and stamp it over his face to hide his expression. No, it was definitely something Purple had said. Why did he have to say things like that in a tone so innocent and sweet?! Red knew that his partner was far from both of those things, but in the moment he could hardly look him in the eye as if they were meeting on the off chance for the first time in their lives. They'd already kissed, they'd already slept next to one another and woke up in the heat of danger. They were bonded for Irk's sake, so why was this so excruciatingly embarrassing for Red to talk about?! He became instantly aware of the box nestled at the bottom of his PAK storage, squeezing down around the plush fabric of the pillow and waiting for his idiot other half to try and pluck his lifeline away, surprised when he too was met with nothing but patience and kindness for once.

Or inexperience.

Purple wouldn't want to do that. A-At least not the first time. He had a lot of healing and self-discovery to go through before they could take each other fully and completely, the thought sending a spike of something warm and unexpected between Red's already unsteady legs as he yelped and nearly smacked Purple in the face with the pillow, flying down to cover the dull ache mounting in his abdomen with his fluffy barrier. The two froze, Purple's mouth open mid-question, as he too flushed and frowned before turning away and keeping his gaze firmly against the far wall. Ugh, this was absolutely humiliating! It sure as hell wasn't this easy for Tak to get him so insufferably zealous and heated, stealing away Red's once powerful voice and replacing it with a vocabulary of broken Irken and droning grumbles that only made things considerably worse for his case. Not even the allure of Sen's once gorgeous physique had taken him and reduced him to the puddle of liquid goo and blubbering nonsense he felt like in the moment, unsure of what was happening for a swift second and feeling his internalized cursing mount when he realized how hypocritical he must look in the moment. He had promised Purple he would be patient with him and allow him as much time as he needed to heal from his past traumas regarding specific, very obvious subjects, and here he was feeling restrictive in his own leggings and letting his body betray him!

Shit.

Red laughed nervously, trying to ease some of the tension when Purple finally realized what was going on and gave him a soft, nearly inaudible "oh" under his breath, only flustering more as he wrung his hands nervously at the thought of having made someone so…well…excited to put it politely. He watched as his partner stood, pillow in tow and clamped as respectfully as he could muster over his form as he inched backwards towards their temporary bathing chambers.

"Um…s-sorry! Just give me a minute to think of something uh…gross or something to take my mind off of it and cool down. I-I can do that in the bathroom so you don't have to s-see anything you don't wanna!" Red stammered with a cheesy smile, refusing to meet Purple's stare when he stood and followed. "Honestly, if you stay out here it might help."

Purple swallowed, catching another lingering scent of pheromones wafting lazily around the tip of his antennae as he blocked the doorway to the bathroom on an instinct he didn't understand, watching as Red wavered gawkily and tried to figure out what to say as his temperature rose. He looked odd like this; so venerable and distinctly different in temperament. He was quieter, with a silvery voice and smooth rational underneath all that anxiety that made Purple stand straight on his toes when they hitched and curled against the metal beneath him. What was he doing? He was going to die tomorrow! He should be training and violently sparring with Red, not looking at him with a stoic awareness that he was becoming lost in. He was going to die, and all he could think about was Red's scent…that utterly infuriating, body-warming, lovely aroma he wanted to bathe in and become one with. Such a different feeling…such a strange shift from earlier experiences. Sex hurt. Sex was _supposed _to hurt.

Right?

Then why did this feel nice?

Wait…they weren't even having sex, what was he thinking of?!

Purple tugged his mind free from the gutter and stepped out of the way, rocking on the balls of his feet as he brought his hands together and moved away without a word, watching out of the corner of his eye as Red mouthed a squeaky thank-you and cautiously shut the hatch behind him to leave his partner to his bewildering thoughts. He moved back to the edge of the bed to wait, glancing back at the main doorway and remembering that he wasn't allowed to take a walk out of fear that a burly guard would grab him by the neck and shove him back inside their temporary quarters. Nah, he was stuck here for the next…what was it? Thirteen hours now? Twelve? He'd lost count, slumping back over the same indentation Red had carved out in the blankets beneath him as he tried to put his mind back on a plot to overthrow their Tallest and free them all. He felt his antennae perk as the image of Del and Lire's ferocious death fade in his mind, replaced by the scenting instinct to root down into the sheets and take a good long sniff of the incredibly faint, gorgeously honied smell transferred to his clothing from the expensive fabric.

Mm.

This was…this was…Purple didn't know what it was, burying his face into Red's quickly fading warmth and letting his breath escape to the atmosphere like steam as he dug his claws into the mind-numbing mix of sweat and innermost yearning, feeling like his partner had gotten him high on himself alone. Did Red feel the same about his smell? He couldn't scent his own, knowing in the pit of his stomach that Red probably picked up on it as soon as it poured free from his stalks and alerted him to his potential status as a mate, making things a bit more complicated then he had originally anticipated. Homosexual relationships weren't uncommon on Irk, but they were frowned upon in positions of power, leaving Purple in between a rock and a hard place for his potential ascension to the esteemed office of Tallest. So, he could either die a half-virgin, if he could call himself that, and never feel Red's touch, or he could survive and become Tallest and have an illegal relationship. Either way, he could potentially lose his chance to…um…well…partake in Red's scent. Did he really want to? Purple sat up and let his fingers dance up to his cheeks, shying away when he noticed the incredible heat pooling beneath his lightly freckled complexion and chewing lightly on his lips as he furrowed his brow in thought. He was afraid of sex. It provoked a terrifying stress response that numbed him to the world and took him away from his rational mind to reduce him to a begging, sobbing mess of terrified psychological torture. He couldn't go all the way, and he wasn't sure he ever would be able to…at least not now. Now, he wasn't sure what he wanted.

A sniff?

A peek?

A touch?

That touch reciprocated?

He felt his pulse lurch when the door opened and revealed a very haggard looking Red, pillow still in tow and clamped firmly over his abdomen to disguise the obvious as he slunk back in utter, humiliating shame. He curled up on the opposite side of the bed, kicking off his boots with his toes and sighing in frustration when he knew his issue wouldn't go away any time soon.

"S-Sorry…I tried to think of something nasty like Del but my brain is on a whole other level right now. I'm gonna try and take a quick thirty minute nap and see if everything dies down." He mumbled in disgrace, swiftly yanking the pillow away and covering himself with the comforter to let his eyes flutter shut as he tried to let his mind wander. "I know I keep apologizing but this is a lot harder than I thought. Shit, that wasn't the best w-wording was it?" He tried a flippant attempt at humor, letting it die away when Purple too laid next to him and decided to keep his hands to himself. "You should try and sleep a bit too. You'll need all your strength for morning."

Purple nodded, gripping at the zipper of his jacket and tugging it away to toss it to the floor before slipping under the sheets with his wholly embarrassed, exasperated boyfriend, feeling him shimmy a few inches away when his hands found their way to his waist for comfort. He didn't want to be touched, did he? Purple tugged back once more, returning to staring at the painfully boring ceiling as he counted the number of pipes for the fortieth time and started over when he got to the end, eventually letting his mind swim back to the realization that Red was attempting to sleep next to him ardent and ready for something he was internally debating about. Why did they have to be in their prime for their search for a mate? Red himself was a few cycles older than Purple, giving him a boost of testosterone and opening up his primitive instincts to find a breeding partner to produce smeets, something the two couldn't do together due to fertility blockers implanted in their PAK hardware upon hatching. Geez, did he have to be so scientific about it? Red was horny. That was all there was to it and that was that.

Red was desperate for his touch.

Red was secreting a honied smell that made Purple's mind fuzzy.

Red was making his abdomen throb with heat he hadn't expected.

Sex was supposed to hurt. Sex was supposed to hurt. Sex was supposed to hurt. Sex with Red would hurt. It would feel exactly the same as mating with Lire and the hundreds of other officers who had forced themselves on him in closets and the bathroom of his chambers to pry his mouth open and choke him on meals that definitely weren't food, leaving him behind nauseous and cold in their wake to pick up the fractured pieces of his soul.

Sex with Red might not hurt.

They hadn't gotten far; they'd only personally known each other a little over a week and already it was like love at first sight, the chemical slew needed for attraction firing off in their brains and traveling down to their mechanical hardware to let off steam as they attempted to regulate emotions that Irkens shouldn't feel so intensely. Companionship, safety, hope.

Sex with Red could be fun.

It was odd feeling his own internalized biases against sexual acts fading away in the moment to be replaced with an undeniable lust and intense inquisitiveness to see what his partner looked like, images of more than accidentally seeing Red's body in Ipi's private garden flashing through Purple's memories and only complicating things further. He was scarred to hell, lean on the border of emaciated, and so utterly handsome he couldn't see straight. Every dip was a valley and every crest was a mountain waiting to be scaled for the betterment of his own mental health, knowing that if he could pass himself off to someone else's hands that he trusted maybe…just maybe…he could heal from his trauma and experience something beautiful.

Sex with Red could be beautiful.

How would he know if he didn't try?

* * *

As Purple thought and fought with himself, Red stared at the far wall, cradling a cozy pillow against his buzzing body to provide some form of relieving pressure against his most intimate places as he sighed intermittently and kept himself from moving any further or shifting enough to create friction. How stupid did he have to be to let himself get excited in Purple's presence?! He'd really messed up this time, the silence deafening in his antennae as he was taken back to the handful of times he'd locked himself in his room at night on his old ship, images of Purple's smile contorted into something even more incredible as he held his breath to keep from making sound and let himself go to his palm. It was scandalous and dishonorable at best, yet here he was, laying with his partner after a single slew of kisses and the faint scent of Purple's mating pheromones set him into the mood to mate. He smelled so rich and well-rounded, a heavy weight bearing down peaceably on Red's form and calming his worries with every tentative inhale of the honied mixture he'd waited so long to scent with his quivering antennae as he tried to make his overwhelming interest less obvious. He knew Purple wouldn't be into the intimacy of penetration at the moment but maybe…

No! Do you only think with your dick?!

Red grumbled to himself and pulled the pillow away when the fleeting pressure became too much to handle, instead electing to creep down and slowly tug his waistband away for more room, freeing himself from the stifling fabric with a mumble of relief and making an internal reminder to pull them back up before they began their training once more.

They laid that way for a long while, Purple intermittently creeping closer until he was pressed flush with Red's back after a few minutes of careful slinking, drawing a yelp from Red's lips when he snuck his hands up around his waist and stopped, holding him there in a state of limbo over whether he should move or remain stiff as a statue. Eventually, he let his eyes flutter shut to the comforting bodyheat radiating outwards and mixing into his, willing his stagnant, frustrating pleasure to subside as he attempted to sleep a bit in the wake of the violence they would face tomorrow. They were all going to die, huh? Red had a great deal of faith in his partner, but he didn't know how far his strength could go against the most formidable opponent their universe knew at the moment. It would take a miracle to even-

Huh?

Hands?

Hands!?

Yep. Those were _definitely _hands.

Red went to screech something out in sudden surprise when Purple startled him by reaching up and lightly tugging at the zipper of his jacket with careful, shaky fingers, dipping his sharp claws against his bare skin to run the length of the first scar they could find. He tried to say something, stopping when Purple took a deep confidence boost of an inhale and leaned forward to pepper a swift, unsure kiss to the back of his neck, grazing his teeth over his flesh with a single swipe before retreating and recollecting himself when he didn't seem to know what to do. Shivers instantly rippled up Red's spine when his partner tugged him back against his tenderly heaving ribcage to smear another fast peck against his skin, every point of contact a burst of energy that set Red to combust in a fit of jumbled questioning and visceral need to keep going and feel more. Any progress he'd made in calming himself came flooding back like a tidal wave of emotion and feeling straight between his legs, forcing him to clamp his knees shut and spin in Purple's hold when he felt his hands creep ever lower to feel along every dip and swell of his chest, locking eyes with his partner and noticing his own dazed misperception gawking back at him in the low light. Did he…did he know what he was doing? Of course he did. He was a functioning adult with a high IQ and a fairly decent sense of self, so why the ever-loving hell was he allowing his thin fingers to trail back to their original position, peeling back the frustratingly thick fabric that kept his baffled partner concealed from his view?

"What…what are you doing?" Red breathed, feeling it catch in the back of his throat when Purple finally unzipped him from his jacket and moved to run his blistering hot touch down his lower back and nearly draw a contented sigh from the back of his mind. "You don't have to do this just because I'm frusturated…You have a choice."

"I know I have a choice." Purple responded with firm conviction, swallowing down another throb of fear growing within his spooch and taking another slow, soothing breath as his mind caught up to what he was agreeing to. "I…I can't handle…certain things b-but I wanna try and feel something before I die." He admitted in a small voice, the tremble in his hands obvious against Red's spine. "What I mean is, I-I don't want any," He glanced up to make sure they were alone by habit, "u-um…penetration. I just want…I-I dunno what I want. You? I want you but you have more experience with this kind of thing so bear with me for a bit while I f-figure it out."

The gruff governance in Purple's voice was overshadowed by his underlying, enthusiastic suggestion to move forward and open up something new and unexplored between them. It was dubiously raw, passionately intimate, and overpoweringly terrifying all in the same breath, Red drowning out his own pride to tentatively move closer and flick his antennae forward to graze against his partner's, every tiny sigh and breath held back enough of an indicator for him to gently move forward and relish in the speed of Purple's pulse beating against his chest. Red was careful and slow, nodding wordlessly against Purple's forehead when he brought them together and leaned in to eat up each and every nervous kiss he was met with, knowing his partner had no idea just how absolutely handsome he was or how he blinded him every time he turned to flash him a smile. Purple was his perfection, his literal dream come true, Red venturing a bit of courage to slip his hands along the same smooth curve of his lower back as they relaxed into one another and found a natural rhythm they were both comfortable with. They went together perfectly, matching each other's affectionately greedy speed with habitual ease as they gingerly fought for dominance and settled on mutual affection, hands exploring tracts of land and territory they'd never been given access to when Red finally kicked off his leggings and worked them down to the end of the bed to forget.

The scent of honied vanilla clung to the air as Red shifted, drawing a light sigh from Purple's teeth as he pulled him up onto his chest to give him complete control of his body, picking up the pace between them when he noticed the undeniable squirm of discomfort hitching in Purple's form. He wanted the sensation of urgency to build until it burst like a bubble, staying just far enough from his boyfriend's waistband to give him total liberty of how far they went depending on his level of consent. He would be damned if he scared Purple off during their first time, preparing for the worst when he ventured enough bravery to silently slip a bare leg up between his to provide a tentative sense of pressure against the heat he knew in the back of his racing mind was undoubtedly building beneath the sheets, blinking when he was met with an astonishing wetness that proved to Red just how touch starved they both seemed to be. Purple froze at the sensation of being caressed so intimately, going stiff with fear and thankful when Red pulled back to give him time.

"I'm trying." He whispered, placing his hands on the sides of Red's face to pepper a few more sweet kisses against his lips as his breathing escalated, flattening himself down against his chest and blinking at the sensation of something warm and firm running the length of his thigh through his leggings.

They were touching. They were actually…a-actually touching.

"Shhh…I know…it's alright." Red reassured, swiping a teasing thumb over Purple's lips to make him smile at his dorky antics. "Do you wanna stop for now? We don't have to keep going if you're not into it."

Purple thought a moment, feeling Red squirm back up between his legs to seek out his own heat, the unconscious motion enough to give him the boost he needed to spread his thighs a bit and grind back with featherlight touches to provide friction along his own length when he felt himself finally slip free. Stop? Should they stop? Purple felt his doubts dissolve completely when Red propped himself up on his elbows and dove back in to run his blistering hot tongue over the nape of Purple's neck, quickly replacing the tender ribbing with the smooth graze of his sharp teeth over his skin, biting down intermittently over his freckled shoulders and forcing Purple to dig his claws into Red's in response. It was absolutely overwhelming to the senses, the throb in Purple's abdomen deepening with every passing second as his body whined out it's need to be set free from the terrified, disillusioned horror he had lived under the clutches of his old advisor, passing his liberated soul over to Red's heavenly, loving palms and feeling him cup him softly like a diamond to be treasured for everything he was. He did the same, continuing his prodding here and there as he learned what Red liked and what he didn't as his partner dipped a single finger past the elastic of his waistband to toy with his hips and draw a tiny giggle out of him at the sheer anticipation for what was to come. Purple couldn't believe it; there was no tears, no blood-curdling screaming stifled by a pillow, no disgustingly foreign saliva oozing between his legs. This was, dare he say, kind of fun in an intimate sense, every flicker of light and spark of lust behind the sweltering, half-lidden crimson streaking his lover's flush eating him away like sweet candy dragging him deeper into the beauty of the moment only they could share together.

Power.

So much power and sense of control.

Purple felt powerful. He felt coveted and appreciated in such a personal way when he reached back and scrapped his claws along Red's bare calf, urging him with the bite of his lip to slip his leg back between his own. Red happily obliged, going into an awestruck trance when Purple hiked himself up on his knees and experimented with his own risqué pleasure, grinding back against him and feeling his breathing morph into something he hadn't ever heard roll off his tongue. He let loose another breathy moan when Red finally snapped out of his comatose surreal fascination with the sheer immaculacy of the perfection unfolding before him, snapping his limp jaw closed when he realized he probably looked like a complete idiot in the moment. He swallowed thickly, smoothing back up to Purple's chest to feel for his steady, overly excited pulse before raking back down at a snail's pace to frustrate him out of his mind and grip at his sharp hipbone as he leisurely rocked against him. He felt a spike of pleasure shoot to his own curling length when he noticed a telltale firmness grinding down against him and seeking escape, drowning out the rest of the world to focus only on his mate and sinking a second finger into his waistband to tug teasingly at the fabric.

"Can I?" He mumbled when Purple folded back forward and brought their mouths together, moaning against his lips as Red felt the vibration ripple up to his antennae and beyond. "Please?"

Red held him close, pulling his hands away and instead shrouding Purple in a protective embrace when he took complete control of the pace, his breathing becoming a steady, rhythmic pant as he bounced against Red's hips and transferred the same delicious fanaticism between them in a sudden burst of electricity that overpowered the mood. It was hungry but affectionate…desperate but loving. Purple didn't feel the need to shudder away or hesitate, rolling off onto his side and flashing Red a deviously sly look as he worked off his own leggings, pulling them free from the comforter and holding them up for his partner so see, giggling when what was left of Red's usually massive egotistical nature dissolved to be replaced once more with a sputtering mess of syllables that hardly made any sense. The distance between them was agonizing, Purple feeling himself curl up against the sheets in search for the blinding intensity of resistance as he clamped his legs together and squeezed, attempting desperately to find some sense of relief. He tossed his clothing to the side and reached out to brush his fingertips longingly down his partner's chest, almost beckoning him over with his eyes as Red began to peel back what was left of their protective, enshrouding comforter for his second peek at what he was about to partake in. One foot. Seven inches. Three. Almost there as the brush of warm, ghostly fabric draped and plucked at Purple's form and made him shiver when his flushed skin was met with the chill of the Massive's internal air systems, freezing in place when his partner finally plucked away what kept them apart to reveal everything that had been hidden from sight. Purple's memory was right; Red was scarred to hell and lacerated with the memories of pain long since past yet still lingering on the surface of his blemished skin, an imperfect disaster of gorgeous proportions leading into chemically enhanced retinas that couldn't be more striking. He let his gaze trail back down, feeling himself flush and instantly look away when the taboo of seeing Red's squirming, ribbed length overtook him again and embarrassed him beyond belief. He flipped and turned his back with a groan of awful embarrassment, gasping in shock when Red pressed into his pack to silently run the back of his thigh with ardent fingers traveling slowly…ever so slowly upwards to part his legs and allow the cool air to hit places he hadn't been expecting.

Legs tangled for warmth, bodies turned and pressed back together to transfer beaming balminess as stifled moans and gentle cries of encouragement were sung into necks and sweat-slicked collarbones. It was so much…so much all at once but so incredibly delicious and right, keeping the two tethered to the moment as all fear of the violent, angry future flooded away to be replaced by pulses humming in tandem and fingers slipping tentatively between legs to graze pads over gooey, needy slits. Purple traded his lack of positive experience for devotion, laying back when Red patted him on the PAK and urged him to lay back before positioning himself between his legs and silently asking for permission, holding his length still in his calloused palm and running his eager tip the length of his parted lips.

Holy shit.

Red was gonna…wait a minute. Purple never expected his partner to be into anything like that, staring down in awe as he leisurely worked the first inch into his hot, wet mouth, careful with his teeth as he relaxed his jaw and scrambled to massage up over Purple's abdomen as he continued tasting him. Overpowering. Sensational. Revolutionary. This isn't what Purple remembered sex feeling like, his hands instinctively finding their way to the base of Red's antennae and gripping as he pulled back to swirl his tongue back around his tip with slow intention before swallowing him down once again. This was incredible and full of absolute, blissful dedication to one another, the threat of death falling to the wayside for the time being as Purple relaxed back against his pillow and massaged along his partner's downy stalks with his hands as Red carefully let him slip past his precarious gag reflex, taking a gulp of air before swallowing down around him and driving Purple absolutely mad. His grip on his partner's antennae tightened as he neared his climax, panicking and humming through clenched teeth when he felt the tight coil burning its way up through his abdomen constrict and grasp at the fringes of his own self-control he'd once been confident about keeping, huffing with a whine of immediate displeasure when Red noticed his toes curl into the mattress and pulled away to linger at the underside of his tip with a tiny smirk. He smiled warmly behind his blush, leaning forward to smooth genuine, kindhearted kisses over his ribcage as he repositioned himself to lovingly straddle his partner's hips, taking him ardently by the hand and helping him to bring their unbearably warm, ribbed lengths together in his palm, feeling himself slip and curl with mounting fervor against Purple's claws before moving to grind up into the loose hold he encased them both in. Red let his eyes flutter shut when Purple ventured a bit more finesse, helping him scoot forward a bit with a blink of curiosity so his base ground firmly up against his partner's dripping slit to simulate the sensation of thrusting with every downstroke of his hand.

"Mm…f-fuck…that feels nice." Red managed to slur out in between breaths, rocking forward against his partner and feeling him squirm and writhe against his entrance in uneven circles that kept him guessing. "S-Shit…can you press up a l-little…ah…harder? Please, I…I need the pressure."

"U-Um…" Purple couldn't think let alone process the shamelessly seductive request, busying his hands against them both and falling victim to the firm slickness before it finally clicked with a bleary nod. "Like this?"

Red rewarded him with a soft moan, pressing down against him as he urged Purple to pick up the pace with his hands, working his slit against his ribbed texture and driving him absolutely mad with overstimulation. This was all so surreal, like a dream but so much foggier in the mind and overpowering in the best of ways; the buttery, invasive scent of pheromones overtook Purple's senses as Red rode him closer and closer to his friction laden release, finally convincing him to let go of his own voice and sing out fantastical praise and purrs alike when the same feeling of tightness crept back through him. Purple felt oddly empty, squeezing down around nothing as he flew up to claw frantically at the fabric of his pillow for support, turning to the side to cry out when Red licked his lips and renewed his own powerful grip around them both, letting his own length coil and curl up against the underside of Purple's for added stimulation as he held back and drug a claw up to land against his jawline to coax another unashamed, pleasure-filled moan from his lips.

"I-It's ok…y-you're safe here and you're allowed to cum…please…please, Pur, please…" Red pleaded, folding forward when Purple scrambled to wrap his arms around his waist and drag him down to his level in desperation for another kiss. "I love you…I love you…"

Purple could barely hear, feeling Red mouth his bleary, sugarcoated words against his lips as he stared glassy and unseeing over his shoulder at the once boring pipelines turned to something excruciatingly blissful and filled to the brim with ethereal ecstasy. Everything was too intense, the burn of dawning climax blooming between his legs when a ripple of cosmic, absolutely electric pleasure shot up his spine and collided hard with his PAK, curling his lithe spine up into something stiff and untamed when he elected to give in and follow instinct completely. The texture of Red's overworked hands and careful claws squeezing and rolling his tip between his fingers, the kisses smearing down his jawline to turn to playful bites along his collarbone, the feeling of Red's parted slit grinding down over him and practically begging to let him slip inside. He wasn't ready. He was ready. He wasn't ready. He was ready! R-Ready for what? Wait…burning, building, burning, building, sweltering, cresting, blooming…!

Now.

Purple bit down on the fabric of his pillow, shredding through the casing with his claws when he felt the anvil of climax hit him square in the chest, releasing through Red's fingers as he continued his frantic, urgent grinding to eventually find his own, the added stimulation of his partner squeezing down around him as he cried out without fear that anyone would hear was mind-blowing.

Silence.

Pure, unadulterated bliss.

For a long while, there was no stress or anxiety, merely the caress of shaky hands over thighs and fingers massaging against sticky slits to work out the residual ripples of climax shuddering up between them both. Purple felt weightless, sighing hazily when Red's touch found it's way to his entrance, circling him soft and slow as he hummed hoarse praise to detail every single molecule of perfection he saw when he rested heavy against him to catch his now shallow breath. Eventually, he felt Red curl back and slow down, his own body doing the same when a characteristic drowsiness overtook him to cradle him in the serenity of finally being loved the way he should when Red went to instinctively preen his ruffled antennae with smooth, soothing strokes.

"Talk about a meet and fuck." Red joked, struggling to catch his own breath when Purple sputtered and giggled against him, squeezing him back into a tight hug and wincing when his sore muscles groaned for relief from the intensity of their earlier fighting.

"What are you talking about? I've known you for at least a week." He bit back lovingly, searching Red's face when he looked at him with the deepest, most sincere gaze of unabridged ardor Purple had ever been met with. He impulsively picked at a stray bit of antennae fuzz poking out at an odd angle, chuckling once more when Red wordlessly protested with a grumbling whine and draped himself back over his chest to recharge.

"I need you. I didn't ever think I would need anyone as much as I need you right here, right now." He expressed honestly, mindlessly tracing Purple's ribs in the way he'd done so many times before. "I've been so used to running through life alone and taking care of myself even when I was around others who liked me but now, I feel like I have something to live for. You know?"

Purple nodded in agreement, blinking at the strange confession and finding his own truth in his lover's tender words. They were here together for a reason, and it felt good to be needed for once by someone who didn't view him as a piece of cutlery or a steak ready to devour. He was a whole Irken in Red's claws and vice versus, leading Purple to think that he had been broken to make room to fit the jagged pieces of his partner's life within his mending soul. If he hadn't gone through all the pain and torment of the Empire pressing down on him like a squirming insect meant for slaughter…who knows if he would have met Red in the first place. He would have died on the streets and Purple would have died on the battlefield in his own blood. Well…he still might. Red had given him more of a life than he'd ever hoped for, knowing that deep down, he would be happy with the literal antichrist he'd been initially uncomfortable to be stuck with. He was angry, he was firm, but underneath everything he was the softest and sweetest Irken Purple would ever meet. He couldn't lose that. He _wouldn't_ lose that.

"Pur?" Red broke the silence, scratching at an itch his idiot lover couldn't seem to reach with his spindly claws and grinning when he sunk deeper into the mattress in sudden release.

"Yeah?"

"Will you promise me something?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"Don't die."

Purple sighed when Red buried his cheek back into the crook of his neck and let his fingers toy with the ridge of his clavicle, thoughts of loneliness and abandonment creeping back into his psyche and bringing him back to his time completely alone and forgotten on the filthy street corners of Veloria. No, just as he had told Purple he was safe, Red needed to trust in him that he would be too. If Purple became Tallest, they would all be safe and a new era of dignified, authoritarian force would blast down over the heads of their sworn enemies to stand strong with an army of millions of devoted soldiers. He would look so handsome in uniform.

Heh.

Red pulled back and smiled, reiterating his question once more as his partner wavered on his answer. "Look me in the eye and promise me you won't die." He whispered softly with another tender kiss, his grip involuntarily tightening at the thought of loosing what he'd only just gained.

Purple watched a moment, a sudden spark of determination striking against his spooch as his awareness heightened to an undeniable protectiveness of his mate. He was doing this for Red, Sen, and himself…and the whole of the Empire. He couldn't afford to lose, so what choice did he really have?

"I promise."

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I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Next chapter we'll have the violent showdown between Del and Purple! Who do you think is going to win? Guess we'll find out during our next update!

**Next Update: Thursday, May 14, 2020 at 10:00 pm CDT!** (MONDAY IS MY MOM'S BIRTHDAY AND UPDATES USUALLY TAKE ME ALL DAY SO I WANNA SPEND THAT WITH HER! :D)


	24. Fight or Flight

Welcome back to Fire in the Snow! It's been so long since I posted, but I am back and ready to write baby! This was a great reintroduction to the story and will toss us all back into the heartbreak of Purple and Red's collective pasts for the worst as we prepare for bloody battle with the dictatorial Del! I thank you all personally for your patience, and I GENUINELY appreciate each and every one of you and read all of your lovely reviews! Thank you again for your patience, and I hope you all enjoy the return of Fire in the Snow!

This chapter is not betaed! I no longer have a beta reader, so some mistakes, mild redundancy, and grammer may be incorrect, but feel free to point it out if you'd wish!

**Chapter rated M for mentions of rape/sexual assault, violence, allusions to mental disorders/PTSD, allusions to suicidal intention, allusion to self harm in the past tense, brief heavy language, brief sexual content, and general adult content.** I do not condone or wish to romanticize mental illness, rape, or assault in any way and think it is a terrible, terrible thing to endure. I merely wish to work through the recovery process in these characters!

* * *

**Eight months in the recent past; The Massive**

"Come now, my pet, we don't want to keep the technician waiting."

"Y-Yes, sir."

Purple swallowed, reaching out and taking another sip of the tea his phantom counterpart had left in the middle of the night to comfort him against the mind-numbing torment that had stripped him of all remaining dignity and smeared him across the filthy floor like trash. He wasn't sure when the cloaked figure had come back to give him another cup after he'd so ruthlessly screamed and shattered the first, tracing the rim of the unbreakable steel mug as he attempted to collect his booming thoughts to remember anything about the cloaked figure he could. No face, no eyecolor, no name…nothing. His voice was disguised and his body held rigid in swaths of billowing fabric that kept prying eyes from distinguishing him from anyone of equal height and-

Purple blinked at the notion, gaze snapping up to stare in awe at his fatigued, ragged form in the mirror of his luscious vanity when a sharp realization hit him directly in his throbbing spooch. He was tall. If he _was_ a he. He nodded lightly to himself, plucking a fluffy brush from the glittery bag to his left and chewing softly on his dry tongue as he hunted for the appropriate going-out color to cake over his eyelids, settling on an opulent, natural emerald green with a delicate sheen. He fumbled to pop open the casing, cursing under his breath when the fallout landed on the knee of his meticulously selected dress robes before brushing it away with the back of his hand and hoping the probing stare of his hawk-like advisor hovering behind him hadn't seen his insolence. Wait, what was he thinking? He was onto something, wasn't he? Oh! Height! Yes, yes, yes! The mystery Irken was impressively tall, matching his own coveted stature from what he could make out and slathered in a cologne so richly honied and spicy sweet that Purple could still taste it lingering on the tip of his antennae. There was a bizarre sense of comfort in that delectable, mouth-watering aroma, opening up whole fantasies of the cloaked hero sweeping through the massive as they fired blazing plasma guns through the smoldering flesh of all those who stood in their way, kicked down the door to his disgusting prison, and snatched him by the hand to stand tall and leave this sickeningly erroneous place together. They could find a new life in the wavering, formless eddy of The Green, a nebulous sanctuary where rebels and scientists alike went to hide from the all-encroaching eye of the dastardly Irken Empire and live out their existence the way they deemed fit.

Wow…leaving…what a foolish thing to think. That was the dream of a smeet, not the reality of a man taken as property.

No, Purple would die here whether by his own jaded hand or the hands of those closing around his windpipe as they used his body for their own nauseating pleasure and gooey release. There would be no freedom and no justice, the husk of his lifeless corpse shot into space like filth as his demented captors hunted for another toy to slaughter on the physical and unravel like thread in the psyche. He'd become far too paranoid, sitting on the edge of his bed as he rocked himself back down from his frantic tears and shrouded himself in his comforter to keep out the probing eye of cameras he knew were secretly watching his every move, recording his every thought, and stripping away what little security he'd been so falsely given. Had they seen…h-had they seen what happened last night? Had they witnessed the miraculous act of kindness passing soothing, liquid gold into his shivering hands? Had they seen everything else? How many officers were up lounging in the control room as he thought, laughing and jabbing jagged claws at static ridden security screens as his agonizing screams where stifled by harsh, gloved hands and what little of his innocence was razed and shredded to nothing more than a faint, dwindling light of the past? How many of them would return to…t-to use the footage for-

Purple clamped a hand over his mouth when a sudden, anxiety splintered gag washed over him, forcing him to stand and prop himself up against the cool wall with an erratic palm. He took a deep inhale and rushed his way to his private cleansing room, doubling over the pristine sink when another wave of horrid sickness took him and splashed against the deep magenta porcelain, a round of thick coughing following and stinging at the back of his throat as he frantically willed the nausea away. Don't do this to yourself. Don't do this to yourself. Don't do this to yourself when you're so low. Keep it together. They may have stolen your mind and your body but they can't steal your hope. Hope is good. Hope keeps you sane and keeps you level, and you _will_ find a way out of here someday! They _can't_ steal your fucking hope!

Can they?

A numbing, horrific realization stole Purple away as he clung to the edge of the counter, wiping his bitter mouth on the back of his hand when a small chuckle of defeat laced his need to spit the acidic taste from his mouth, the odd swimming in the back of his buzzing skull replaced by the slow, easy clack of leather boots against steel as they approached. They had taken that too, hadn't they? He had nothing. He had nothing left in form or thought that he could grasp at like straw to keep himself wanting to live another day in the pit of despair and maggots he'd come to call his vicious, unforgiving home. They had taken his will to survive and that was that, Purple passing himself over to the body-wracking breakdown in his overworked psyche he had been waiting for as pathetic, hot tears spilled down his woozy cheeks and flooded over his shivering fingertips to the creak of the hatch gingerly swinging open and halting. He couldn't do this anymore. He had to find a way to put a stop the seemingly endless stream of violent torture he should have never agreed to, disgusted with his excitement in the beginning to serve his noble Empire and put an end to the bloody carnage of Irken-Callnowian Conflict, but now he prayed for the fiery fall of the Irken Empire.

"Nemi, darling, you'll be late for your appointment. The technician won't wait forever. Afterwards, we'll get you a little something to soothe that sickness of yours."

Nothing.

"Nemi, do as your told. We need to go."

Silence.

"Nemi-"

Purple couldn't help himself, the sound of his name slandered and mistreated throwing him hard over the edge as he spun on his heel and locked eyes with the sickly green watching him from the hallway, clenching his fists in a horrendous rage as he opened his mouth and screamed as loud as his weary lungs would allow. His voice crested and broke to something ugly and porous as Lire jumped where he stood to the surprising animosity beating back against him, slinking back and pressing his PAK into the wall as he scrambled for purchase. Purple followed and reared back, snatching his abuser by the collar and holding him in place when his primeval fight or flight instinct took over.

No more running.

No more hiding.

Now was the time to fight.

He screamed again through his tears, ready to throw his ruthless punch and pummel Lire to a pulp when his advisor flew down and snatched at his hidden belt, drawing a plasma pistol and thrusting it up against Purple's cheek before hastily flipping the safety, yelping when his consort didn't seem to care, following through his death wish and colliding hard with his jawline to knock him back. What…what happened? Purple took a deep shuddering inhale and wiped frantically at his eyes when he found himself blinded by hot, sticky tears, scrambling for Lire's pistol when he heard it thud to the floor and skid down the hallway. He cried out when two hands landed at his ankles and tugged hard, forcing him down to the floor as he kicked and slapped in a fit of untamed, searing growls as Lire spat the trickle of blood flooding from his split lip back into his face. No. No. No! He _didn't_ want to die! Something bloomed within Purple's chest when Lire forcibly snatched him by the throat and squeezed, choking off his air supply as he scrambled with renewed fanaticism for the delicious temptation of the pistol hanging just out of his flailing fingertips.

"I gave you everything!" Lire barked, lifting back and slamming Purple down on the callous floor once more as he choked. "I gave you shelter, I gave you food, I gave you _purpose_!"

"Y-You gave me…n-nothing…!" Purple managed to hiss, kneeing his attacker directly in the stomach and cursing under his fading cognition when he remembered Lire's impressive military training. "You…s-stole…m-my…life…! You…y-you stole…"

Lire eased back when Purple lapsed out of his rapidly slipping consciousness, shakily reaching for his pistol and stuffing it in his belt as he winced at the harsh pain radiating through his skin from his secret consort's surprising bout of strength before glancing down as he sputtered and rolled to the side with a raspy gasp. His advisor loomed over him a second, taking a deep breath to calm his unending wrath as he smoothed back over his antennae and grabbed for Purple's wrists, tugging him up to the wall and propping him up to a haphazard sit to lightly smack the side of his face and halfway bring him back to the present. He sneered when a string of spit fell to his lap, thwacking him hard across the side of the face again to little avail and sighing, resorting to standing once more and dragging him with all his might out into the center of his living quarters.

"Why do you make me do these things?" He panted, stopping a moment to collect his strength before gritting his teeth and heaving. "You know I love you and would never hurt you on purpose, Nemi, so why do you defy me? I love you. I _own_ you. What more could you want besides what I've given you?"

Purple winced from the cold floor, steadily coming to as he stared blearily up at the ceiling and listened to the disgusting love confession he never wanted to hear before planting an unsteady palm against the floor and ripping his other away. He tried to stand, surprised that Lire hung back and merely watched as he collapsed once more and pressed himself back into the wall to stare down at his lap.

"Nemi, look at me."

Purple shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut to the now unbearable ache hitching behind his eyes from the hard blow to his skull the night before. "No. Get out of my room." He mumbled into his knees, drawing them up and hiding away from the world out of hope that it would somehow dissolve and be replaced with something warmhearted and safe. "G-Get the fuck out…"

"That's not any way for a consort to talk."

"Well, I'm not a _fucking_ consort!" He snapped, still refusing to meet Lire's gaze. "You talk to me like I'm a damn woman! Do you know how emasculating it is for you to shove me in silk and force me to wear makeup?! I was a respected biologist in my field before I was shipped out to a base! I was going to be a sniper and you think you can treat me like I'm stupid?! I hate it here! I fucking hate it here!" He gave in to his gut-wrenching anger once more, growling under his breath when he heard Lire tug his gloves off and waiting for the dense sting of the slap across his face that was to come. "All of you act like I'm some bride to be paraded around and nothing else! I have a voice, I have opinions! Don't those matter anymore?!"

Lire took a step forward when Purple snapped up to meet his stoic, hardening stare, delicately folding his gloves to the side when his prisoner clawed at his face in a desperate, feverish attempt to smear away the glossy makeup spread over his sharp features. "I would advise you, Nemi, to hold your tongue. I'm going to give you two options and I'll let you choose; either you clean yourself up and look pretty for your Tallest as we do your bloodwork today, or I call a guard and we'll go back to the bromine pool to set a new record with how long you can hold your breath. Besides, you're Empire property until we pawn you off to Callnowia, and that means you're mine by proxy." He paused when Purple spat a glob of shimmery lipgloss in his direction with a hostile hiss. "You're a fighter today, aren't you? Like I said, the choice is yours and you'll have to deal with the consequences of either."

"No! I'm not doing either! You _raped_ me! You used my body for yourself and I'm fucking tired of it! Even if you wanted to 'pawn me off' to Callnowia, you can't you idiot! I'm not a virgin anymore! Imagine what the whole Empire and Del will think when they find out you soiled their prized possession!" He cried when he felt furious tears prick at the corner of his raw vision, finally gaining the strength to stand as Lire sighed with disinterest and strode forward. "What are you gonna do to me, huh?! Stand on your toes and try to smack me with your little smeet hands?! Even if I've lost my muscle mass, I dare you to try and hit me! Watch what happens-"

Purple froze as the lock to his external hatch clicked and swung free when the safety was removed, each and every cog and gouge of metal on metal sending his pulse to lurch into his throat with horrified anticipation at suddenly being outnumbered. Click. There was the secondary lock. One more until he was venerable and thrown to the mercy of whatever hellish dogs walked into what little control he'd gained in the moment to strip him back down to the bone and use him all over again. Then, a thought began to fester in the back of his mind like a rapid whirlpool of the first inkling of hope he'd managed to snag in months. This could be his chance! This could be the big break he was waiting for! He could run for it…yeah. _Yeah_! No holding back this time or being polite under the sneer he threw behind the shoulders of every moronic guard he'd grown to despise! Ok, ok, hold it together you can't mess this up! He felt the world dull and fade as vivid tunnel vision took over and made him hyper fixate on his target as Lire opened his mouth to vehemently shout back an order, every fast paced step a cycle in length when the confused medical technician finally swung open the hatch to personally check to see why they'd miss their appointment.

Now.

Purple didn't waste any time, making a mad dash for the hatch as the drone screeched and furiously tried to tug it back closed, petrified where he stood when Purple violently barreled through him and slammed him hard to the floor. He took off without thinking, racing down the corridor and bolting past the gargantuan double security doors to the bridge as Lire feverishly pursued and drew his pistol, shouting brutally for him to get down on his knees before firing a booming warning shot at the pipeline dotting the ceiling. Purple cried out in panic when the searing hot plasma ricocheted and bounced back, skidding deftly around a corner as it finally careened up and slammed into a pipeline, hot steam bursting forth to halt Lire in his vehement pursuit. He could barely hear over the thump of his thunderous pulse surging along his antennae, turning another corner as he tried to map out and remember the layout of the steel fortress he'd barely explored. There was a hanger somewhere around here packed to the brim with warships he could hotwire if his foggy brain could remember how, override codes and frustrating jumbles of militaristic memories garbling his rational thought as he nearly careened into a sharp corner.

"Shit!" He yelped, grabbing for a nearby service drone's tray packed to the brim with fluffy snack cakes and eloquently decorated pastries, tossing it into the floor as Lire rounded the corridor and made a beeline in his direction followed by two hefty behemoths of guards, buying him time when scalding syrup momentarily blocked their pathway. "Dammit, where the hell are the docks?!"

He was getting lost, mixing up pathways in the hideous map in his mind as he stopped and felt his terror pop like a bubble in the thick atmosphere nearly choking the air from his lungs as Lire fired another shot that whizzed straight though his bewildered antennae. Purple could tell he was missing on purpose, aiming everywhere but his heaving body as they played their terrifying game of cat and mouse. Please! Please where was the hanger?! He was never going to leave this petrifying maze, officers hanging to the side as they wavered and tried to decide on what they should do when their morals clashed with their sense of duty, many turning a blind eye to Purple's daring escape.

Dammit! He had no choice; he was going to have to turn and fight!

* * *

Red inhaled another glazed donut hole, wiping his mouth messily on the back of his glove and scowling under his breath when he noticed the tiny pile of crumbs forming in his lap. He glanced swiftly over his shoulder before deftly brushing them to the floor, returning to his mind-numbing paperwork and feeling his eyes cross in boredom before he groaned and massaged at his aching temples. Why did he have to keep up the repour so well? Why the hell did he have to pick something as devastatingly uninteresting as a general to impersonate? He thought he would be out in the unpredictability of the ever changing battlefield, watching Del's cabinet from the sidelines as he toned his lean muscle and spilled the blood of the Callnowian menace to the snow, not this…whatever this was. Instead of earning glory, he was stuck eating his monotony away over a cluttered desk piled high with weapons and provisions requests his pathetic excuse for a leader was too dull to fill out himself. He'd become somewhat of an advisor to Del, gaining his favor but hanging a full tier behind the bizarre relationship he had with Lire and playing the game of happiness and sunshine with a man so vile was wearing thin on his nerves. He had to save face and keep his Tallest in the dark so he would be assigned to Nemi's transport flight to Bornau, sighing and rhythmically tapping his pen against his electronic reader as he thought.

Nemi.

What a stupid name for someone so clearly intelligent. Red had always wondered why he'd been given something so soft and malleable, running over potential nicknames he could call his secret protectorate in his mind and always settling back on Purple for the obvious. He leaned back in his seat, ignoring the telltale creak as his mind drifted away and became captivated by the sensuous, scalding lavender he'd met in person last night. Beautiful…but oh, so broken. He wanted more than anything to scoop Purple up in his arms and highjack a ship to take them far away from the pain and nauseating torture piercing his skin and keeping him prisoner in Del's hold, but he knew he couldn't for both Purple' safety and the safety of thousands of other violet-eyed Irkens lost to the system and freezing to death on frigid Callnowia. It took everything in for Red not to act on his powerful morality, driving himself absolutely mad with wrathful fury to know he couldn't do anything until he a surefire way back into Ipi's mansion with Purple's transport team to end this murderous scheme once and for all. But Nemi…no, Purple…he was suffering, wasn't he? Red had hung back and bit his tongue until it bled, had listened to the skin lashing beatings that left concealed bruises to flower over his delicately emaciated body. He'd listened to Purple weep in the engineering bay when Lire locked him in the dark for days without food as punishment for talking to service drones behind his back without his permission. And, recently and worst, he'd walked past the security hanger and caught sight of his precious crush being painfully forced into sexual conquest he didn't want as officers laughed at his face on camera screens. Del had ordered Red to watch him from the shadows and make sure he was kept in pristine condition for his important treaty signing later that cycle, but he couldn't physically stomach staying silent anymore. He'd gone to bed, laying awake in his plush, opulent chambers as Tak rambled aimlessly to him about her day on his transmitter, unable to burn the horrific image of his clandestine love being brutally attacked out of his mind before politely excusing himself from his girlfriend and breaking down over his pillow at the pathetic failure he'd become. He had promised himself that he would keep Purple safe the moment he caught sight of him across the mess hall and felt his stoic breath halt at the innocent beauty he'd so desperately craved to protect, that no one would touch a single freckle dotting his shoulders or steal away what little innocence he had left as a man. But what Red saw made him sick to his stomach and tore him to miniscule shreds to toss to the wind like nothing. Nothing. He was nothing and he would always be nothing.

He couldn't stop himself from sitting idle and bawling into his pillow, collecting himself around two in the morning and sneaking his way through winding corridors to the mess hall where he brewed a cup of stomach-soothing tea, adding a pinch of turmeric for the swelling he knew Purple would soon face in the unforgiving morning before he donned his stealth robes and slipped gracefully inside his prison. Of course, he was met with anger that broke him down further, keeping his face obscured so as to not foil the mission but also out of shame for the hysterical, hollow tiredness ringing Purple's once vivid eye color turned dull with abuse. Red had let that happen. He had let Purple fall to the clutches of someone who wanted to squish him like a beast between his fingers and hold him there until he suffocated on his own anguish, Red's secretly empathic nature taking on and internalizing the revolting humiliation and bottomless depression every time he patrolled outside Purple's quarters and felt the weight of the deadly atmosphere hanging inside. When his crush had reached out and smacked away his gift to accuse him of sweet talking him in order to gain risqué, sickening favors from his body, Red wanted to peel away his hood and show his face, to bend over the edge of his bed, take his chapped hands, and beg him for forgiveness like he'd never begged before. It was his fault after all. He had left Ipi's mansion when he couldn't bear to throw his arm out for Sen any longer, racing through the snow with Lavender Fire to set the cold ablaze but never realizing just how abhorrently selfish he was being. The great and mighty Styx had left a power vacuum in his wake, allowing Sen to throw her temper tantrum to her shriveled excuse for a mother and callously demand a new pet in the form of wide-eyed, excited to serve Nemi who had no idea what horrors awaited his pliable, unsoiled psyche. It was a form of warfare in and of itself, every day a battle to stave off wandering hands itching for a taste of their luscious beauty and driving Red to self-scarification and boiling chemicals poured in his once rich, delicious eyecolor to keep away the less than coveted purrs of his superiors. Now, he was desolate; a cynical, bad-tempered rebel disguised as an aggressive officer and forced to watch the same mind-bending torment break down another innocent man who deserved to hold the entire universe in his powerful claws.

Purple was a man, not a plaything.

Purple deserved to flaunt his masculinity, not be emasculated by others.

Purple was a warrior, not a victim.

When would it end? When would Red finally gain the strength to throw the cycle out of balance? When would Red finally help his beloved out of the true victimization he'd indirectly caused him to suffer through? What would happen when Purple found out he had taken Red's place? Oh shit, was he spiraling again? Was he overthinking things? Ok, no, he had to calm down and think things through. He took a deep inhale and reached across his desk, swallowing his gooey nightmares back down to hide them away in his throbbing chest as he grabbed for his thermos and popped the top, taking a long swig of stringent alcohol. The familiarity of the burn felt nice, bringing him back down to the artificial gravity swirling around him as he finally sighed, recapping his secret medicine and shoving it away when a strict voice behind him nearly caused him to jump out of his already crawling skin.

"Sir! I bring news from the bridge!"

Red spun in his chair to meet the tiny dispatch drone saluting him from below, opening his mouth to bark back orders to leave him be before a strident, booming alarm bounced through the ship to assault the sensitive antennae of everyone on board. It was clamorous and startling, forcing Red to scramble to clamp his hands over his overworked stalks as the drone attempted to screech over the sound and relay the sensitive information he'd been given in the wake of their first catastrophe with a certain someone racing through the ship on a death-defying escape attempt.

"General Styx, Sir!" The drone began, his voice cracking and breaking when the alarm turned supersonic. "I-I regret to inform you that the Callnowian consort, Nemi, has escaped and is currently fighting with operatives in the medical wing! Our team has shut emergency hatch 458 and 459 to keep him from moving further through the ship to reach a transport pod! We have reason to believe he is not armed with weaponry!"

Red froze, hoping the tiny officer didn't see the look of sheer, unabridged horror glazing his face for half a second before a cheesy smile quickly replaced it. "Ah! Heh, yeah! The consort!" He panicked, moving his hands to his lap as he wrung the expensive fabric of his gloves and attempted to sift through the terrifying leap and bound of gruesome thoughts scraping at his skull. "Is his PAK still disabled? Is there any way he can use laser technology?"

Please. Please say yes.

"No, his technology is still under surveillance for our and his own safety! What a lucky break, huh?" The drone chuckled when the siren died down to be replaced with a stoic, thoroughly bored announcement.

"Good morning Massive staff and thank you for participating in our ship-wide drill." The voice slurred in disinterest. "Our Tallest commends you for reacting swiftly and thoroughly to our unexpected 'emergency.' We would like to ask all staff to return to their stations to await routine morning briefing for your shift change. We would also like to ask all personnel not authorized to perform in the medical wing to refrain from asking for medical advice. This area will be under routine maintenance due to a small asteroid colliding with the hull of the Massive until 11:30 am today. If you have a medical emergency, please contact your supervising officer and a medical drone will be dispatched to your location. Thank you."

Red felt his jaw tighten when the click of the intercom squealed then fell silent, the rest of his observation team shuffling in confusion before shrugging it off and returning to their mountains of paperwork over hushed whispers of the strange projectile that collided with their ship. So, they were covering it up, huh? How pathetically low. Red stood, grabbing for his crisp uniform jacket and zipping it up the front before brushing past the drone on his way to the external hatch.

"Tell Tallest Del that I'm on my way." He mumbled stoically, running a finger over the pistol in his belt holster before the vicious image of Lire's gnarled excuse for a face flashed briefly in his mind. "I'm going to hang back and watch in case anything gets out of hand. You are to keep this secret, understand? No one is to know I'm there, per Tallest Del's orders."

The drone didn't hesitate, clicking his polished heels together with a rigid salute before briskly moving off through the open hatch, leaving Red behind as he slunk through and turned in the opposite direction towards the medical bay. His pulse escalated as he nodded to a few rogue officers chatting around the corner on the way to their shift change on the bridge, their unknowing respect only hammering the nail of desperate need further into his spooch as he picked up his pace and dipped around a corner at the end of the corridor. Why the hell did Nemi have to go absolutely feral now? He wasn't prepared for their mission to fall apart, peeking back around the corridor to ensure he was completely alone before digging into his back pocket for a tiny device no larger than a coin expertly crafted by Tak's own careful hand and smooth to the touch. He ran a thumb over the indentation in the surface before taking a deep, shuddering breath.

Let's do this.

With that, Red turned on his heel and flicked the coin with his finger, watching over his shoulder as it spun and suspended itself in the atmosphere for a few seconds, a tiny, high pitched whine splitting the fictitious serenity before it zipped off to collide hard with a nearby security camera. He smirked when it latched to the side and began its work of worming through the Massive's encrypted internal defense, code after scrambled code smoothing into Tak's waiting claws to crack as he sifted through his own PAK for a transmission sequence.

_Lavender Fire, incoming. Lavender Fire, incoming- ugh. Do I really have to say the shitty code name Skoodge came up with?_ He sneered in his thoughts, feeling the code travel through his hardware. _Anyway, we've got a problem. The mission is compromised, and I need all security systems in the Massive down for at least ten minutes while I work my way to our target. _

_ Styx? What do you mean the mission is compromised?!_

Red blinked when a furious voice split his thoughts and overtook his own in favor of her metallic screeching. He reached out and smoothed his hand over the lockpad to safety door 458, inputting his override as he nodded silently to the guards standing tall and rigid to the side. They waved him on when the hatch opened, revealing the true extent of what Purple had done as thunderous plasma fire exploded through the atmosphere and evaporated what little moisture clung in the air. Red yelped and slammed the door shut, ducking out of sight into the nearby, plasma burned doorway of a razed medical unit scattered with glass syringes and gooey medications as Purple tore by and turned on a dime to hold his footing when an officer lashed forward and opened up ritualistic hand to hand combat with him. Red winced, clamping a hand over his mouth as he instinctively reached for his pistol with the other, stopping when his love swept his attacker off balance in a single graceful stroke and slammed him hard into the littered ground to violently tousle with him over his weapon. He knocked it aside and snatched it up in his trembling hands, firing a deafening warning shot to the ceiling before pistol whipping his attacker across the face to ruthlessly crack his jaw with an audible, sickening snap. He was a god manifested in the flesh, commanding the attention of the medical bay with enough fire in his smoldering, terrified gaze to melt the whirring plasma core of the Massive itself, barking orders unintelligible to Red as his pulse thumped over his still antennae. He was captivated completely, the world swirling in vaguely sober mayhem when Purple twirled on his heel and threw out a well placed kick that sent his next opponent reeling back into the jagged paneling of a nearby wall before firing another warning shot into the destroyed pipeline suspended over his head. The way his shoulders heaved with every wrathful pant, the animalistic instinct to survive in a world that wanted to split him in two and steal his gorgeous soul for their own devilish greed…all of it. Every curve of his emaciated form pumped full of savage adrenaline and the undomesticated code of the spoken Irken language driving him on with frightfully gnashing teeth and heated curses white-hot enough to slice flesh on his exacting malice alone.

Beautiful.

Irk, he was so beautiful.

_Styx? Styx?! Are you there, idiot? _

He didn't respond, drowning out Tak's demands to watch the risqué, gorgeous show hitching in the hallway before him as his thumping pulse dropped into his stomach when Lire crept behind his powerful vision of Irken excellence and set his pistol to stun, aiming dead center for Purple's PAK as it blew off steam to the sheer force of the his next blow cracked viciously against his target's skill. Red went to cry out in horrified warning, clamping a hand hard over his mouth once more when he fired on malicious, callous intent with a laugh of triumph, Purple dropping hard to his knees as his jaw locked to the millions of volts of excruciating electricity shocking through his delicate nervous system and blowing out his pain-receptors as waiting officers snickered and hooted in thrilled relief when he slammed down hard on his front and went out cold in a frothing puddle of his own saliva. The itch…the powerful itch to race forward and splatter nauseating enemy brains over the walls was almost too much to bear as Red lowered his hands to his side and felt his wiry fingers curl into two irate, powerfully clenched fists ready to strip the souls from unworthy bodies like the reaper he wanted to be so badly in the grisly moment. He wanted to bathe in it, to watch Lire scramble for his slit throat as he gurgled and choked on his own bubbling, sticky blood spilling between Red's wrathful, justice-exacting touch and leaking to the floor as Purple stood behind him and watched his personal boogyman finally fade to a shameful, distorted haze.

Red wanted him gone.

He wanted him gone so bad he could taste it in the form of his own blood seeping over his tongue from the bite to his lip he hadn't noticed had gone too far. Purple deserved better but what could he do? He couldn't compromise his position to save thousands to save one man no matter how heavenly or deathly important he was to Red's own psyche.

_Abort. Abort the takeover._ He hissed in his mind, striding forward with as realistic a victory smile as he could manage. _It was a false alarm on my part. Get out of the system quickly and safely and retreat back to Moo-Ping 10 for further instruction._

_Wait…are you sure?! I'm already in! I can't just-_

_ I said abort._

He listened to Tak throw one of her famous fits, tossing something over her workstation before disconnecting completely and slithering back from his code like a snake to strike another day. He hated working them up for a kill, but this had become too volatile for his liking and the safety of his crew and Purple needed to be his first and highest priority as Lire stooped and flopped his crush over on his limp spine to gently slap at the side of his face. He approached with powerful caution, ensuring the tiny advisor was aware of his presence as his heels clicked hard against the floor and shoved back the throng of onlookers hovering over his beloved.

"Councilman Lire, I'll kindly ask you to take a step back." He demanded with more passive aggression than he'd hoped. "I'll take him back to his room for his blood transfusion."

Lire propped himself up on a single sharp knee when the sound of Red's voice flooded his senses and took him over for the worst, curdling him back to the sour, angsty pervert he was underneath his translucent skin. "Hm. General Styx, what a lovely surprise that you'd show up at the tail end of all of this incredible excitement!" He clapped his gloved hands together when Red slung his own behind his back to puff out his chest and pathetically attempt to appear taller. "You always tend to pop up from the shadows, our little watchdog. Be a good man and run along to pass Del the news that Nemi has been apprehended."

Red fought with the deep, organ pounding need to reach out and clock Lire hard in the jaw but the violet bruise flowering over his bone structure meant Purple had beat him to the punch…literally. Good. Lire deserved so much more than a rightful smack across the face, but his bloody murder would have to unfortunately wait. He smirked and shook his head with a haughty laugh, shoving the tiny officer aside hard to the side with as much force as he could muster to prove his dominance before digging his fingers into Purple's wrist to check for his pulse. He wanted to weep salty tears of rapturous joy when he realized the man was somehow still kicking after everything he'd been subjected to in the past two cycles, the weak hum beating out Red's personal symphony as he quickly pulled away when he noticed he was lingering too long for comfort. He couldn't leave him here to the mercy of Lire, dipping down and bracing himself firmly against the floor before heaving Purple up into his arms for safe keeping, Lire's ferocious hiss of disapproval digging just far enough under his skin for him to sweep him back off his feet with a single, laughable kick to the shin.

"Y-You! You can't take him! He's _mine_!" He ruthlessly demanded, rubbing at his aching knee and shooting Red a formidable, mind-numbingly dark warning stare from below. "He is Empire property, not the property of a single individual of such sniveling rank as yourself!"

Red readjusted his hold when it threatened to slip, hoisting Purple up over his shoulder and feeling him hang limp over his collarbone as his excitement for the tiny victory he'd managed exploded in his mind and gave him enough confidence to turn on his heel and flip Lire off from behind as he strode away and took his worthy prize with him to greener pastures for the day.

"Thank you, Councilman. I'll report back to Tallest Del about your insolence after I see to it that Consort Nemi is returned to his chambers." He gave a swift glance over his shoulder and knocked on the external hatch with his free hand, aggressively delighted when it swung open and his faithful guards saluted back. "And saying he's _yours_? Whatever will our Tallest think of you now?"

With that he slammed the safety hatch behind him before Lire could protest his way into a fist fight, taking a deep breath and collecting himself as he held Purple close in his protective grasp and decided to take the less trafficked service elevator to his floor. He'd come so far and fought his way through three whole levels with his sharp wit alone, proving himself to be a formidable enemy should the time arise for him to annihilate bone and snuff out tidal waves of abhorrent malice attempting to take his far more deserving life. He was a white-hot burnout, a savage scapegoat, a daunting warrior slipped through the pencil thin cracks of the Empire's lowest depths on his freckled looks alone to never be remembered as the unsung hero of society that he truly was.

Red sighed under his breath when they reached the service elevator, hoisting his 'prisoner' back up when he threatened to slip and keeping a firm hold on his scrawny waist as they shot off towards the bridge. He could take him. He could take him so easily and run from this horrid, nightmarish existence to star anew in a world they had no experience in. He'd thought about it often over the past few months, humming amorously through his showers to the uplifting fantasy of him and Purple finding a place somewhere on the edge of the galaxy, changing their names to something that suited them, and laughing each and every night at cheesy jokes over dinner as calloused palms trailed over one another for comfort. They could pave their own path without Irk and the imperialism they both despised, giggling together under fluffy blankets and never having to burden their bodies again with the threat of sexual mutilation or the gnashing teeth of warfare aiming for critical veins. It could be beautiful and serene, a delightful change of pace to the repulsive, mind-bending torment Purple was subjected to every second of the day, Red grimacing in equal discomfort when he noticed he remained stiff in his protective, all enshrouding hold despite being knocked cold.

If only Purple knew he existed…things could be much different for them both.

It didn't take long to walk the few feet from the elevator past the bridge to Purple's personal, opulent prison, Red flashing a false smile to the officers waiting for him and helping him to gingerly sling open the hatch before shutting it cautiously behind him. He didn't have much time, knowing if he loitered too long that Lire would blame him for the foreign DNA discovered between his legs for his weekly health evaluation, the thought enough to unsettle Red's spooch. He didn't bother with the lights, stooping to lower Purple down as carefully as he could over his bedsheets and running a smooth, affectionate palm along his jawline when a deepset, hollow depression washed over him in disgusting waves and threatened to draw out the briny, bitter tears he'd been so carefully taming until now. He lowered himself to his knees, knowing he had a minute longer before Tak would restore visual to the deliriously confused security officers updeck scrambling to restore visual to their video feed through the cameras he'd so cleverly taken offline, but it would never be long enough for him. He couldn't help himself any longer, folding Purple into a tight, loving embrace and holding him flush to his chest as he hung limp and didn't respond with so much as a twitch. He smelled different, Lire's expensive cologne dotting his milky skin in uneven patches to be drowned out by the shielding veil of Red's cheap, spiced scent driving away the darkness lingering over him and hopefully giving him hope for when he awoke dazed and confused to the illustrious stranger that watched over him like a frustrated guardian angel.

"I love you…" Red mumbled into his neck, pressing a gentle kiss to his cheek when he pulled back and smoothing his antennae back against his pillow when he lulled back down and slipped from his trembling gloves. "I love you so much, Purple…I promise I'll get you out of here."

* * *

**Present Day; The Massive**

Red groaned and blinked away the groggy, sticky fringes of sleep keeping his weary eyes heavy before rolling over and drooling back into his pillow. He shivered, reaching out and allowing himself a tiny smile when his searching fingers found the warm body slumbering peacefully next to him. He slunk over, folding himself into the instinctive embrace that came from behind and smoothed down over his waist to keep him safe from the skittering demons that plagued his darkest nightmares and palest daydreams. He returned the touch out of habit, snaking up under the thin arms of his powerful warrior to smooth lightly over his shoulders before hazily blinking himself awake. It was murky and comforting, the billowy darkness swirling around them like their own personal galaxy as he sighed himself to some semblance of soothing cognition, massaging at the back of Purple's neck as he slumbered tenderly against him. He was out like a light, the vision of heavenly grace and tranquility Red knew he didn't deserve but had managed regardless. Utter perfection…he was everything he had dreamed and so much more he knew was waiting to be discovered the more Purple worked through his trauma and passed a part of his battered soul over to Red's loving palms. He dipped in, pressing a featherlight kiss to his warm, buttery lips before resting his cheek to his in ecstatic, true happiness for the first time since his unfortunate hatching and tossing into the callousness of a society that refused to see him as a complete Irken capable of greatness. He could almost feel himself healing against Purple's velvety bodyheat radiating in raw harmony with his own, happy when he found his way to the small of his partner's back to kneed at his ribcage under the reassuring heft of their thick comforter. This was the life Red knew he deserved, wishing with all his might that those locked doors would swing open to reveal that this entire charade had been a joke and that they were able to walk free hand and hand towards their glorious, peaceful future together to wake up in the same plush bed every morning and share a delicious breakfast over sweetened coffee. He finally had hope that they could find their peaceable, magnificent forever in each other's grip as they danced and twirled in the home that they could build together; he could paint the walls and Purple could explore his personality through decorating and making their personal space something to beautifully cozy they could cherish together as boyfriends…or more. Partners? Maybe. Husbands? Hopefully. But that would take time, Red chuckling groggily in his own mind and swallowing down his need for a commitment that would take cycles to devotedly cultivate through loyalty and trust, but he was ready to be patient if it meant he had a shot and giving his life over to the warrior who had mended his once shattered soul. He could feel pieces slipping back into place with every sleepy exhale and affectionate touch reciprocated folding forward to rest his chin against Purple's collarbone and doze the early morning hours of dawn away without a care in the universe.

They had mated together…made love together.

Red wasn't much for cheesy terminology, finding it to be too frilly and unnecessary, but the more he replayed the gorgeous closeness of their previous night, the more he realized he could sacrifice some of his stoic dignity for the drooling dork in his arms. It wasn't exactly traditional or socially accepted, thinking back to all the times that his past girlfriends slandered and drug him through the mud when they accidentally saw Red's search history on his transmitter or noticed the way he stopped to admire handsome men in the streets of Moo-Ping 10's moons. They always used his hidden sexuality against him, threatening to out him to the rest of the Elite or their team and he would beg for them to keep his secret for fear that his life would end to the hands of someone who didn't understand his love. But Purple…oh, Purple was where it was at. He was the full package; scary intelligent, warmhearted with fantastic intentions for good, so handsome it made Red dizzy…everything. He was Red's everything and he felt like a chipper cadet fawning over a crush once more, swooning and falling into a premature honeymoon phase he never wanted to end.

"Good morning scum of the Empire!"

Red shot up from his sweet, sleepy stupor with a yelp of horrified surprise as the hatch swung open, panicking when Purple rocketed out of his once peaceful slumber to swing at the nearest body he could find, connecting hard with Red's shoulder on accident before clamping his hands over his mouth when he realized he wasn't in any real danger…yet. He frantically mouthed an apology through his fingers, smoothing a palm over Red's sore collarbone and pausing to lock eyes with him, the two sharing a small smile that made them both weak in the knees before a silvery tone split the atmosphere and turned it cold and unforgiving. Del strode forward slathered head to toe in ritual combat attire and flashing his opulent, glittering gold breastplate when he clapped for the blinding lights to faze on, effectively blinding his enemy and sneering in heated, undying disgust when he noticed that the two had spent the night together. Purple scrambled to cover himself in shame, hiding behind his fabric barrier as the clang of Del's fitted metallic cleats hit the floor and chilled him to the bone. He was massive, towering over the two and covered in the finest armor the Irken Empire had to offer, utilizing expensive technology to shrink wrap himself into lightweight, durable combat wear that would be impervious to anything Purple could throw at him with his hands. His face was covered with a clear protective mask of Vortian design, showing off his confident, hideous gash of a smile and each of his elbow length gloves was tipped with a razor sharp claw extension begging to slice the soft tissue of Purple's throat and pluck his trachea from his lungs like a toy. There was no way in hell that he stood a chance against someone so gorgeously powerful but brutally immoral, hatefucking his way through Purple's very existence and lingering at the fringes of his darkest nightmares bringing him to pulse pounding terror he wasn't ready for. He felt instantly sick when his anxiety ruthlessly spiked and here remembered he had no weapons besides his shaky PAK legs and speed alone, swallowing down his nausea and refusing to make eye contact with the sizzling burn of the dictatorial monster attempting to intimidate him off the battlefield so he could sink his claws into his partner and Sen and tear them like delicate rice paper.

"What do we have here?" Del asked plainly, chuckling to the entourage of reporters trailing behind him as they snapped helpless, humiliation inducing photos of the two in their most vulnerable state, averting his eyes with a false cough of repulsion when Red shot up out of their bed in the nude to throw himself in front of his partner and cover him from the voyeuristic media. "Who knew you'd be into such filth, Nemi. I underestimated you."

"Shut up!" Red barked with a hiss of hot defiance, smacking Del's hands away when he threatened to strip the bed of its covering. "Say whatever the hell you want about me but you leave him out of this!"

"You? There's nothing more to say about you, Styx, besides how I'm going to laugh when you're burned at the stake." Del chuckled haughtily, catching Purple's wavering, fear laced attention at the bizarre statement. He went to open his mouth but Del beat him to the response, continuing on when the look of terrified bewilderment flashing in his ocular lenses amused him more than it should. "Yes, you heard me right. We're going to make a game of this to set the mood and entertain the stadium of officers itching to watch me decapitate you like an insect."

"What kind of game?! Quit being cryptic and spit it out already!" Red demanded, yelping when Del snapped and nodded for his guard to come forward from behind and snatch Red by the shoulders, admiring the ferocious fire blazing in his voice when he fought. "Let me go, you asshole! I'm protected under the Control Brains!"

Purple hopped up when his blood pressure skyrocketed and his instinctual need to protect his thrashing mate overtook him, earning him a hard backhand from Del's sharp glove that gouged a thin cut over his cheekbone and sent him back against the bedspread as he panted and finally found his voice.

"L-Let him go! I asked the Control Brains for protection and they extended that to Red! You have no authority to touch him!" He stuttered, taking a heaving shudder of a breath to try and puff himself up in spite of being fully exposed. He could feel the crushing alarm scream in his mind for him to run before he was harmed but he held his ground, staring Del down through his visor as he shook. "You have _no_ authority to touch him!" He restated with a bit more power behind how little he felt.

One of Del's guards covered Red's vision with a blindfold, leading him towards the open hatch as he protested and tried to break away for a feral, hard bite to the arm, failing when the guard's heavy hand snatched him by the jaw to guide him on from behind.

"I'm not the one touching him, am I?" Del mused with a sultry purr that sent a shiver down Purple's already quaking backbone, looking him over and lingering on the thin trickle of magenta blood beading on his cheek. "Look at that precious blood of yours. You know that your genes mixed with my adopted daughter's before she turned into a beast were what made my skin tougher than diamonds. You built me up and gave me my immortality and I can't wait to collect what's left of you on the battlefield to build my army."

"Y-You…y-you won't win!" Purple stammered, feeling his retort die on his tongue when he was snatched by the wrist and tugged up to a stand to be laughed at and filmed in all his glory by the live press documenting the first challenger a Tallest had endured in nearly 900 long cycles. He yanked his wrist away with a hiss when his anger overrode his habitual fear. "I-I won't move until you tell me where you're taking Red! Tell me now!"

Del brought his wiry claws together to run his fingers along each and every precious joint of his gloves, tutting his tongue teasingly against the roof of his mouth before motioning his team to thrust Purple's armor into his quivering hands. He wasn't ready. He hadn't eaten, his bloodsugar low enough to keep him woozy and uncoordinated as thoughts of how he was possibly to destroy someone so vicious died in his rational thoughts. He couldn't do this. He was going to die. Red was going to die.

"Purple! Listen to me!"

Purple's gaze snapped up when Red raced back through the hatch, two burly guards hot on his heels as he flew forward through the press and collided with his lover's shoulders to fold him into a final embrace. He didn't care who would see or know of their forbidden relationship, flashing him a determined smile that stole Purple's breath away before he was unfairly ripped away by suffocating hands clamping around his throat. He watched in petrified awe as Red shoved the guard away by the face, noticing the telltale scars along his powerful forearms he'd neglected to spot before and realizing they carried more lucid weight now than ever. If Red could overcome his battles and live to tell the tale, then he would have no choice but to do the same to preserve the life he'd only just begun living, promising himself on a repeated loop that he would stare into that haughty, chauvinistic crimson once more and that they would walk out of here with renewed authority to take what they deserved.

"R-Red, I-"

"S-Shut up and listen! Y-You're…dammit! You can do this! I saw you storm an entire floor on this ship back in the day and hold your own against Lire and fifty officers cornering you in the medbay, and if you can do that, you sure as h-hell can do this!" He coughed, struggling to get one last glimpse of his frozen other half as he struggled to keep his slipping hold on the frame of the hatch with every merciless yank of his ribcage. "I-I love you! I love you so much and I know you can do this!"

Purple didn't know what to say, opening his mouth to cry out his response and letting it die as a whisper on his chapped lips when Red disappeared once more to his captives, hot curses sounding into the distance as he was forcibly taken from the only shining beacon of hope he'd been given in cycles. Purple felt every cell in his body light up with a desolate desperation to live for the sake of his mate, his hollow gaze slowly flooding back up to meet Del's as he wavered and drunk in a long, nauseating look at his naked form.

"Beautiful…you really are _something_, Nemi. Shame you'll finally be tainted by my spear." He said finally, turning for good and heading towards the hatch to follow the string of vicious snarls echoing down the corridor. "We shall be arriving on Judgementia soon, my dear, so I advise that you prepare yourself. After all, if you don't overthrow me in time, the last remaining member of the illustrious Lavender Fire will go up in flames."

Purple felt his hot breath catch in the back of his throat as he choked, the media rushing forward like ravenous beasts as Del took his entertained leave to shove microphones and live transmission cameras in his face, blinding him to the world as he turned and slowly set his provided, pathetically thin armor down on the disheveled bed.

Red would go up in flames?

What…what did that mean?

Did Del mean literal fire or something figurative?

He swallowed, taking a deep breath as he smoothed his hands over each and every perfectly placed scale of the deep maroon battle attire that would be the last uniform he was forced to wear, a sudden wave of thick, sober determination twinkling through the darkness flooding his senses and growing brighter with every passing second turned to a cycle as he fell away to the allure of violent tunnel vision. He would have to beat one of the most formidable, authoritarian Tallests in Irken history while knowing full well that it would be more than a stretch to make it out in one piece. He blinked, running over every beautifully tragic scar dotting Red's critical veins and nodding to himself when his nerves settled to a low buzz. He could do this. He could do this. _They_ could do this. They _would_ do this. Purple would walk out of this prison to crush it in his domineering grasp as the new acting Tallest of the Imperial Irken Empire ready to reform the broken system and take Callnowia to a bloody war they would never recover from.

_I love you too, Red. Long live Lavender Fire!_

* * *

Wow! Long time no see friends! I hope this was a good reintroduction to Fire in the Snow, and was awesome for me to get back in these boys' shattered minds. I love you all and seriously thank you for your patience! I will be posting updates for this on a regular schedule now on Fridays, because that's one of the days I have off! I hope you guys enjoyed the dark look into the past and are buzzing and ready for the epic, bloody, harrowing battle of a lifetime on _**Friday**__**, August 7 at 10:00 pm CDT**_! I'll see you guys then and thank you so much!


	25. An Unexpected Martyr

Welcome back to our next chapter of Fire in the Snow! I guarantee all of you will hate me by the end of this because...it's going to get sad. Well, I won't keep you waiting any longer and let's get this done lovelies! I hope you enjoy, and I'm so thankful for all of your wonderful reviews! I read them all and recognize you all when you show up, so thank you so much for your continued support!

Chapter is unbetaed, so please expect some minor spelling/grammar/or slight redundancy in the text. Thank you!

**Chapter rated M for graphic depictions of blood/gore/violence, character death, graphic depictions of death, brief heavy language, and general adult content.**

* * *

Del cleared his throat, snapping eloquently for a glass of wine from a nearby service drone and smirking when it was passed up, hoisting it high over his long antennae as the whole of the mess hall hushed and waited with wide, glittering eyes and bated breath for what was to come.

"Good morning, my esteemed Armada!" He boomed, sucking in a deep breath to project his power and unnerve anyone who met his golden gaze with a fiery excitement that dug its way along their pulsing veins. "As most of you know, a critical period in our Empire's rulership is upon us! Twenty-three hours ago, I was challenged by Elite Officer Nemi of the Veloria region for my seat as Almighty Tallest of the Imperial Irken Empire!"

The crowd instantly erupted into a squabble of hushed whispers sliding over steaming breakfasts and white looks of appalled shock as Purple sunk deeper down into his heavy armor. He glanced up to where Del had stood, scratching at the lip of the table and pulling away in nervous frustration when he realized his sharp tipped war gloves had gouged tiny tracks into the metal. He shuddered at the façade of cool grace his Tallest was managing to project, blinking and staring out at the buzzing throng collecting like probing insects wanting nothing more than a glance at their sickening excuse for a leader. They had docked at Judgementia nearly thirty minutes ago and were undergoing customs as Del's personal cabinet worked on filling out the berthing agreements and allowed the ship to be scanned per protocol for any suspicious activity. In the meantime, Purple had been forced into his ritual combat attire, wincing at how brittle and cheap it seemed and stuffed into a bone crushing corset to top it off, his breathing restricted past the point of discomfort. He reached up and tugged at the chafing around his neck when the paneling of his protection began to pinch before scanning the crowd for the oddly familiar allure of striking crimson.

Where was he?

Red had been missing for a while now, lost to the system and swallowed up by Del's murky claws to be kept someplace bleak and desolate. There was no telling what he was undergoing, ideas of horrific torture razing Purple's already busy mind, a gooey, mushy cough to his left rocketing him back into the present as he stiffened and watched the hooded visage of Sen toy idly with her handcuffs. She looked filthy at this point, a lump of sentient flesh coming undone at the seams and leaking glittery, foul black blood to the floor as reluctant service drones caught it in trays. Thankfully, she was still somewhat alive; beaten and bruised beyond belief for information but never cracking when her ability to feel pain was dulled and stripped for good, nullified by the depraved scientific concoction splicing her blood into something artificially twisted. As Del continued his rant, Sen reached over with the toe of her heel, tapping on the top of Purple's steel combat boots from under the table and giving him a gruff grumble when he finally took notice through his screaming psyche.

"You…_you're_ challenging _him_?" She sneered under her breath, frowning in distaste when a janitor stared up at her in awe from afar. "You've got to be kidding me. Why isn't Styx- er…Red challenging him? He has way more combat experience than you."

The inflection in her posh tone only heightened the crushing weight of Purple's stress, elevating his heartrate when he grew irreparably irritated with the whole mess. "He's not a citizen of the Empire anymore, remember? He's a defector and a murderer, meaning," he explained, tapping aggressively on the edge of the table as he growled, "that he isn't allowed to challenge a Tallest until he's been cleared by trial. Ugh, he's such an idiot."

Sen scoffed at his attempt to keep their relationship a careful secret through weak insults, shaking her head and sighing when a sticky piece of flesh landed on the tabletop in front of her. "Good grief…you two are really something. You don't have to lie to me about the weird thing you two call a relationship after what, three days of cuddling or whatever? I can't believe what's left of my existence is stuck in your hands."

Purple said nothing, watching Del's every move as he took sip after delicate sip through his fantastically built armor. His age didn't seem to hold him back, his towering figure the picture of impeccable health and superficial charm wooing the crowd and soaking in the genial respect they showered him with as he spoke his drawn out, methodical speech…or maybe they feared him. He couldn't tell, returning to his own drink and taking a tiny drink from the edge of the glass before scrunching up his face to the awful burn of stringent, sterile alcohol hitting the back of his throat and warming his spooch from within. How the hell was he going to manage this? There had to be a weak spot, images of detailed Irken biology coming back to Purple in surprising waves as he pinpointed every soft, fleshy weakness over the swath of skin he ached to dig his hands under. Del didn't seem worried in the slightest, glancing down intermittently as the Massive's docking protocol came to a close and was approved, the golden eyed menace clapping his gilded palms together to signal the beginning of the end for Purple and his bloodstained entourage. Sen watched with a complacent sneer, laboring to her wobbly feet when her personal guard jabbed her in the back and urged her on, slinging an arm around her to drag her on against her will as Purple swallowed hard and followed close at her heels. He didn't feel safe even when he towered over Del's personal guard, the dig and pull of his clinking armor deafening against the roar of slander and oppressive jeering he was met with. He kept his eyes to the floor and clenched his fists when he felt his jaw tighten on instinct as trash and leftover food was pelted over him like acidic rain, every hit another match on the now boiling pyre of sizzling, unfulfilled fury for justice he still didn't have.

Red was missing.

Sen was dissolving in her own blood.

He was going to battle with someone who was unkillable.

All of it was overwhelming, his pulse pounding through his system when they stopped at the gargantuan, reinforced docking doors to the transport pod that would beam them down to the surface of the highest court in Irken society, the very thought of standing before the Control Brains again making Purple's skin crawl with unease. The last time they had met, he was stripped bare and splayed for his cyclic virginity testing, the probing gaze of his almighty leaders' smoldering mechanical eyes invading his thoughts for months after they had thoroughly scanned him from within. All the more reason to win and destroy the very foundation of what made this Empire soil his innocence…if he could win.

"Hey!" Sen leaned over and hissed before she was shoved into the transport pod and forcibly sat down in a safety seat. She grumbled when her guard shot her a hot look and buckled her in, adjusting her strap far too tight for her liking and nearly suffocating her in the process. "Listen, Nemi. You know you can't win this, right? He's got your blood mixed with the purest Callnowian blood running through his hardware and he'll only regenerate."

Purple was instructed to sit beside her, shakily adjusting his own safety strap and glancing out the tiny window to his left before craning his neck for an inkling of a glance at the planetary surface below. He couldn't see much, a thick, pillowy blanket of ominous grey clouds covering his doom as the knifelike pinnacle of the sharp Spike of Judgement protruded up into the atmosphere and laughed back into his face. Sen was right; there was no biological way he could maim Del at this point and he didn't have any means of getting his skilled hands on the proper equipment to study the bizarre healing mutations latching onto his blood cells. Who knew his own purity would come at such a high price?

"Do you know anything about his skin? His organs? _Anything_?" Purple mumbled back, straightening up when a guard passed by to check the tension on their equipment before shutting the hatch. He noticed Del's own personal pod shoot down to the surface at lightning speed and prepared himself for the inevitable force that would be crushing down on his chest soon. "You're living…eh…somewhat, in this whole mess. Do you know any weak spots I can hit?"

Sen thought a moment, her silken hair reaching out for a quick sympathy swipe over his freckled cheek as her demeanor changed completely to something stoic and cold, chilling the atmosphere between them as she looked him over with her good eye from within her shadowy hood. "Del and I are different. I was given Red's stupid blood and it turned me into whatever I am now, but he was given pure Irken DNA. It doesn't even compare." She paused a moment, grimacing in disgust when another tiny morsel of flesh sluffed from the protruding tendons of her cheek and dripped down her front. "Hm…if only there was a way to ruin that bastard's blood by force or figure out a way to kill him with my bare hands."

Purple snickered nervously when Sen pretended to wring her hands in wrathful malice around Del's thin neck, slumping back with a sigh and jutting out what was left of her pouty bottom lip in irritated defiance. "Maybe if it was you fighting him, we would have a chance." He mumbled, bracing himself when the pod jerked and the telltale rush of stifling pressure bore down on him like an anvil. "You're _immortal_."

"You don't have to say it like that."

"Huh?"

"Like I'm some goddess or something. It's creepy."

Purple gave her a tiny nod and blinked, turning his attention back to the rapid rush of swirling haze and cloud cover racing past their window and quickly clearing to a low fog as they shuddered through the smoggy atmosphere. He'd been to Judgementia a few times in the past and always hated the stink clinging to the air and the buzzing static of industrialized machinery electrifying the air. It never felt grounded, stinging at his trachea with every inhale and washing over his antennae to finally hammer the nail of surety into the reality that he was going to be torn to pieces and used to fuel Del and Ipi's amassing armies. What gave them the right to take whatever they wanted when they didn't have the first inkling of sense on how to run a conglomerate of cultures that diverse?

"I could run it better…" He grumbled under his breath, jumping a bit when Sen looked over in passive confusion then turned away to rest her jawbone in her rigor mortis stiff fingers. "Sen? Are you scared?"

She shrugged at the question, expression remaining blank as she drummed her free fingers against the rubbery seat. "No. Why, are you?" She narrowed her black eyes and prodded back. "You're not afraid of a little death, are you? It'll be easy, like going to sleep."

"Geez, you really don't have any faith in me, do you?" Purple groaned, slinging his head in his hands and digging his claws into his weary eye sockets. "I was finally free and now I'm right back in the heart of this stupid empire and it's gonna kill me! I don't wanna fight, but I also don't wanna die! Not when I have something to live for now!"

"And what is that something?" Sen asked slowly, her flippant interest finally solidifying to something smooth and melodious, peaked as her wiry tendrils curled back up to lick at Purple's flushed face. "You've been an enigma ever since I've met you, Nemi. You always talk about yourself and how everyone else has wronged you but you never talk about what's so blatantly good hanging right in your face. You have an opportunity to better yourself and find your way through this whole mess for yourself and that idiot Red and all you're doing is crying about it! It's always complain, complain, complain. What are you going to do if you actually win? Complain your way to assassination as Tallest because let me tell you, in politics no one is going to have sympathy for you."

"You really think I wanna do this? I don't wanna be a Tallest." Purple countered with a snap, rolling his eyes when Sen stuck out her snakelike tongue. "All I want is to find Red and get out of here so we can never come back. I don't care about winning anymore, I just want him."

Sen slipped a bit when the pod finally broke the atmosphere and began to descend for their final landing, the daunting Spike of Judgement looming in all of it's immaculate, shady glory before them and begging them to step inside for their agonizing final hours. "So, you'd give up the safety of your own people for one man? You don't love him, Nemi. You've known him for less than a week and he stalked you for months; does that really sound like love?"

Memories of Red swathed in his mysterious, billowing coat flooded Purple's senses as the scent of calming herbal tea came back as a delicate phantom, passing into his chilly, shaking fingers as the kind man he once knew as a strange hero passed him the balmy cup after his attack. That was more than love. That was devotion, adoration, mutual respect for one another on a level he'd never known and never planned to in his hideously suicidal tendencies, but Red had pacified that with a single, reassuring smile. He was a blinding, broken bulb of light twisted into the wrong socket of Purple's closet but still shining through the brazen darkness that kept him prisoner to provide him with some sense of normalcy and respect for who they all knew that they were deep down inside. He saw him for who he wanted to be, not who the Empire said he was as a powerful sniper ready to destroy the enemy and take back everything they deserved to rule over together.

Together. What if they could rule together?

Sen waved a hand before Purple's stoic face as he was once again lost to his pounding thoughts, gibing him a slow blink when they finally landed hard on the metallic pathway to their doom. The landing gear shuddered and made contact, jolting the two and rocketing Purple straight out of his own mind and back into the battlefield as he began to panic once more, nowhere near ready for the bodily horror that was to slice through his skin and dismember him for the entertainment of the Empire he now hoped to rule for the sake of his own survival.

He couldn't lose.

He wouldn't lose.

Would he?

"Nemi…I…um….I wanted to say that I'm sorry for picking you." Sen mumbled under her blood slicked breath. "I had my reasons back when I did, but I never thought you would become wrapped up in a mess like this. All I knew is that they wanted to take samples of your blood to counteract disease, but I was wrong…and when I found out it was already too late." She sighed long and low, glancing up when Purple met her gaze and reached out to place a kindhearted palm on her knee for comfort.

"Don't worry about it. It's not your fault anyway." He replied genuinely, feeling a ripple of relief ghost his spooch at the tenderness he could share with his once future wife. "We were all played into this and in a way I'm happy you picked me now. I would never have met Red or had the opportunity to know the truth and probably would have died underground with the other five thousand Irkens they stole. We have a chance to stop this now, and that's thanks to you, Sen."

A fleeting, sad smile brushed over Sen's features as her hand met his, clasping around his fingers in a final hurrah before battle. "I was right…you would have been a wonderful husband." She paused, reflecting on his powerful, tear jerking words before swallowing down a gooey clot and hesitantly piping up once more when she finally found her voice through whatever was unraveling her cool. "I…I want to propose something to you, and I hope you say yes. From the moment I arrived here to see my father, I knew it would come to this, but I never anticipated it would be this soon. But…I want to do it to give our planets a chance."

"Our planets?" Purple repeated, eyeing the guards closely from across the pod when they began to perform their docking procedures. He quickly adjusted his thin gauntlets, searching Sen's mangled, fleshy face for any trace of emotion and setting on determination and resolve. "You…you _do_ know something. Please, Sen, you have to tell me what it is! If I can use it in battle or-"

She smiled weakly and reached out, brushing over his lips and leaning in for a sincere, longing kiss for what she knew she would never have, hanging back when she felt Purple shudder in revulsion against her jawbone and settling to pressing their foreheads together instead. "I might know how to end this, but you have to listen to me very, very carefully, alright?"

"Alright."

"Do you promise, no matter what happens, that you'll keep fighting?"

"What do you mean-"

"Purple, do you promise?"

"Y-Yes, I promise."

Sen nodded against his skin, relishing in the contact before a fire sparked in her eyes and she snatched him gently by the jaw to hold his gaze, searching his wide, lavender eyes for surety before continuing. "Good. Here's what I want you to do."

* * *

"Let me go! You have no right by the court of law to even touch me!" Red shrieked like a caged animal, snarling and thrashing when cold, staticky air hit his jacket and chilled him to his toes. "I said, let me go you stupid asshole!"

Where were they? Where was this? He tried to run over the extent of his frustratingly blindfolded journey in his mind but couldn't think of anything besides the rough turbulence of landing as his transport pod pierced the atmosphere of somewhere he could only describe as Judgementia before he was thrown out to the street and practically dragged into someplace ominous and terrifyingly silent. He had been forcibly dressed in a scratchy, dry material and doused with something foul, liquid threatening to run into his eyes as he strained to see something, _anything_, through the thick metal of his bonds.

Nothing.

Was this the battlefield? He could feel soft soil beneath his feet and hear the gentle clang of boots hitting metal bleachers in the near distance as they filled, his antennae bouncing wildly in all directions before he yelped in pulse pounding shock as he was hoisted up into the air. He couldn't judge how high, flailing in furious panic before coughing sharply when two snakelike tendrils snuck around his ribcage and ruthlessly squeezed at his form, constricting him against something rigid and solid forced to his back and snapping hard against his PAK hardware. He gasped for breath, hacking when the same bitter scent he was doused in was slopped somewhere below him to allow acrid fumes to overtake him and taint what little air he could draw in. Shit. This was one predicament he wasn't prepared for. He'd been through murder, warfare, famine, but this…this felt like a formal _execution_. He grit his teeth when the smell subsided and writhed against the tight tendrils holding him still, trying to work a hand free so he could pull his body away from whatever dubious plot Del was planning for him; what did he say? Something about a stake?

Oh no.

Red hissed when someone reached up and pressed the safety latch on his blindfold, peeling it away as an unbearably bright light stung his retinas and forced him to shy away when he realized who was watching him from above. Three gargantuan fixtures hung suspended in a tangle of wires and animate cords curling lazily around gilled metal as they craned forward for a better look at the criminal they'd been hunting for cycles upon cycles. Smoldering magenta slits of eyes glared back through their shadowy lair in the ceiling as the sound of information whizzing through their code hushed the surrounding crowd to an excited murmur of anticipation. Red was oddly captivated, staring back as his jaw went slack in a mixture of awe inspired fascination and skin-crawling horror when the brutish monsters slowly began to descend above him for a better look at the sorry state he had found himself in, silently peeling away each and every layer of who he was as they invaded his PAK coding by force and ran through his memories for the most invasive, threatening display of power Red had ever felt. It was like a worm gnawing its way through his most private secrets, flipping through his cognition like a book as his mechanical ocular lenses sputtered and followed along against his will. His hatching at the smeetery in Naphrus. His incredible progress in the Academy before he was discharged for failing an IQ test. The drunken nights spent alone on the streets as he hunted through trash bins for crumbs. The brutal murder he'd committed in cold blooded fury for how desolate his existence had become. His forced, stiff dance with Sen before Ipi as she folded forward and kissed him for the first time. It was all so surreal, taking him on a journey of pain and despair when he realized he truly hadn't accomplished much in his young life as a defective, swallowing when the visions only grew deeper and more profound. The first time he realized he was attracted to men in his barracks followed by the moment he laid eyes on Purple from across the crowded mess hall of the Massive. Distinct, philosophical, unbelievably amorous contact in the form of tiny glances around corners and skimming reports of his medical checkups peaking and blooming when he brought him a tentative cup of tea after his brutal attack. Then came the rebellious Lavender Fire sweeping Purple away from the torment as the callous discomfort between them faded to tender, light touches and sighs leading up to…no!

"Stop! Get out of my head! T-That's private and you have no right to see it!" He demanded, panting when he felt the robotic behemoths slither back and allow him a bit of revere for what he wished to keep hidden.

He couldn't stand the thought of anyone else seeing Purple's body beneath him; not after the fundamentals of his partner's privacy had already been stripped to the bone. He was a respected scientist and a bloodcurdling sniper, not a piece of meat to be paraded on show even if it was in the privacy of his own thoughts. Fuck this place! Fuck whoever that was! Fuck the officers sitting on the edge of their seats in the bleachers ringing the indoor battlefield he hung over. It wasn't fair, Red renewing his sense of urgency as he fought to free himself, glancing down to take note of the glittering titanium pole he'd been strapped to by automated ropes holding him firm before freezing when he noticed Del and two other figures approaching from the distance. He winced when the crowd erupted in a fit of cheers for their maniacal Tallest when he gave a dainty wave and a wide, cheery smile, metallic armor gleaming in the magenta light cascading down over them all.

Then, he saw him.

Red felt his breath hitch before crying out on impulse, beyond thankful and flooded with brief relief when he noticed Purple was unharmed and slathered head to toe in a cheaper, flimsier version of Del's magnificent protection and hanging close at Sen's side as she struggled to walk with the protection of a guard.

"Purple! Purple I'm here!" He yelled at the top of his voice, laughing when his confused partner met his gaze and went to race forward, stopping when he realized who's presence he was in.

"R-Red! Thank Irk you're not dead, idiot!" He called back, shrinking down into his armor when Del shot him a blistering hot stare of disapproval. "I…I-I'll get you out of there, I promise!"

Red decided to keep his mouth shut, feeling safer already but quickly noticed the escalating situation when his pulse lurched in his chest as a guard harshly tugged Sen away to the sidelines by her bony shoulder and replaced her with an electric spear for Purple to wield in his hazardously slipping defense. No…no, no, no! His partner wasn't any good with close quarters combat and the Empire probably knew that from his Academy records, choosing to keep his apt trigger finger away from a plasma rifle and giving him the worst weapon in the whole of the military. It sputtered and died in his hands, returning to an inert spear as Purple smacked in frustration at the plasma coil in a desperate attempt to force it to reignite when the crowd began to lightly chuckle around him. Del, on the other hand, snickered and balled his long fingers into harsh fists, smacking them together and triggering a reaction in his gauntlets to pop open and reveal two blistering hot, laser guided plasma canons he could control with a leisure snap of his fingers. He aimed prematurely at Purple's chest for intimidation, squinting down his barrel as it heated and crackled in his grasp before pulling away when he noticed the pathetic battle stance his challenger had taken to prove he may be weak but determined, Purple staring his faux Tallest down when a wrathful need to dominate overtook him at his core and spread throughout his body. He itched for the challenge to commence, clutching tightly at the comfort grip of his long spear and brandishing it before him when an instinctive growl bubbled up in the back of his throat against his better judgement, garnering the attention of the spidery demons lurking above them as they silently moved and slid over for a better look at the unanticipated willpower peaking their sensitive interest.

Silence.

Complete, utter silence.

Purple dug the sharp toe of his boot into the ground to brace himself, building energy in his unyielding shoulders as he held his breath and felt familiar tunnel vision creeping in at the corners of his sockets. This was it, wasn't it? He would have to time this perfectly, breaking eye contact for a single sweep of a glance over to where Red had been strung up like a sacrifice over his funeral pyre, a guard standing hidden behind him to set ablaze the slow, smoldering liquid scattered at his feet. Sen was right. He would only have a few precarious minutes to free his stoic partner before he burned alive and was consumed by the justice system hanging silent above them, running over their uncertain plan once more in his mind and attempting to throw out his disabled PAK legs to no avail. He would have to do this with his hands and resolve alone, nodding to Red who visibly swallowed and shot him a tiny nod back.

Alright…let's do this.

"Almighty Tallest Del of Veloria, you have been legally challenged by Callnowian consort Nemi of Veloria for your seat of Almighty Tallest of the Imperial Irken Empire." A booming voice rang out in a hiss of fluttering, hot steam from above as the Control Brains finally spoke. "You are required by Imperial Law to accept this challenge with grace and dignity. Should you fall in battle, Callnowian consort Nemi shall take your place as acting Almighty Tallest and defector Styx of Naphrus shall be pardoned of all crimes domestic and foreign. Do you understand and accept your charge?"

Del grinned, sinking lower to the dusty ground as he snarled out a strident response of his own. "I, Almighty Tallest Del of Veloria, understand my charge and accept my challenge." A wild look sparked in his glowing, gilded stare as he spoke, warranting the compliance of their mechanical overlords as they moved to address Purple next.

"And you, Callnowian consort Nemi of Veloria, do you understand and accept your charge?"

Purple spoke without hesitation, every cell in his body screaming for him to race forward and finally get this horrific, life-altering battle out of the way so he could leave with his partner. They would leave together and find their way through this callous universe as one soul intertwined by a strange destiny he'd never expected to have, the gravity of his own seemingly foolish heroism smacking him hard in the jaw when he finally grasped the enormity of his actions. He had the whole Empire resting on his shoulders; billions of lives could be lost to forced medical altering of their fundamental DNA for the prospect of universal conquest in the worst of ways. Innocent smeets would choke on blood that wasn't their own as it was injected with sterile needles into their writhing bodies, business owners would falter and be stripped away to walk in the harsh lines of trench warfare they never wanted to witness, and Del and Ipi would become the soul dictators of everything they could possibly think of and more.

Never.

This was no longer Del's empire; this was Purple's!

A crackling wave of static blared out to signal the start of the battle, Del's razor sharp instinct for controlled warfare propelling him forward like lightning as he fired his first shot with a bloodcurdling screech unlike anything Purple had ever heard. He slid deftly out of the way and yelped when a searing bolt of crystalline plasma rocketed past his cheek and collided hard with the metal ring boxing them in as he fled Del's invasive barrage of rigorous, pounding, canon fire. A vicious blowback of sharp metallic shrapnel flooded the stadium as the crowds cheered and foamed at the mouth for Purple to be dissected alive by Del's eager claws in heated pursuit of Purple's hastily planned maneuvers he was making up on the spot, dashing behind Red's prison as another shot rang out and deafened him to the roaring boom around him. He blinked when heavy shock set in, clutching at the oil slicked pole as his antennae muffled and the world fell away around him to be replaced with a hazy, surreal landscape he couldn't comprehend. No! Get your head back in the game! He yelped when a nearby guard shot a single bolt at Red's now flailing feet, setting alight the flammable liquid to a low burn as Del hissed and grabbed Purple by the shoulder to fling him back several feet before going for his throat with his sharp claw guards, missing as he cried out and rolled to the side to lose his already unstable grip on his spear. Del landed a hard punch to his side for the theatrics of toying with his food, forcing Purple to scramble wildly for his weapon when he pinned him back hard to the ground and spat into his face to blind him. He delivered a swift kick to his enemy's abdomen, flipping him back with surprising strength as he fumbled gracelessly to his feet and watched for Sen's signal as he took off in a muscle burning sprint once more. He had to get Del in position, keeping a protective, watchful eye as Red heated up in his bonds and became frantic, deep azure flames licking and melting the soles of his rubber boots as he screamed for Purple to hurry up.

He was going to be burned alive!

Red dug his gooey heels into the base of the pool, curling himself up as high as he could manage as the slow burning liquid dissolved and obscured his frantic vision from the carnage he hoped would be avoided. All he could think of in the moment was Tak and Skoodge, the blazing heat stinging his skin and inciting a bottomless, frenzied terror to live when images of his past lover destroyed and charred burst through his psyche and tormented him from within as danger threatened to overtake him from the outside. He was paying for his sins against Lavender Fire, squeezing his raw eyes shut as the clanging metal of Purple's spear hitting Del's claws resounded like nails on a chalkboard and made him violently shiver. Every squirm only made his bonds tighter, choking him and forcing him to remain still for his agonizing fate as his partner labored and poured buckets of sweat to try and liberate them both for a better, brighter future. He wanted to jump down and pound back against Del's bruising offensive alongside him, squinting when a pang of distrust shattered the agony as he caught sight of Sen squirming on the sidelines and fighting brutally with her personal entourage of stifling guards , bathing in their vivid magenta blood before breaking free and racing as fast as her broken bones would allow to Purple's side.

What?

Wait…what was happening?!

"Pur! Pur watch-" He clamped his mouth shut when Purple glanced swiftly over his shoulder and nodded for Sen to take over, letting his jaw go slack in wide-eyed awe as his powerful partner slid deftly out of the way and allowed Sen to take over.

The Control Brains did nothing as the crowd hushed, obviously interested in the brazen turn of events when Sen's forearm collided hard with Del's swing, halting him in his tracks as he attempted to collect himself before yelping when her sentient locks coiled and writhed up into his face to constrict around his throat.

"You stole my life! You stole my mother from me and turned her into something I don't even recognize!" Sen screamed, forcing him to his knees as she squeezed ruthlessly around his windpipe, screeching when he sliced through her jet black hair, effectively severing it to her shoulder and tossing it to the side before she could evade his grasp. She threw her arms wide in knowing, stiffening when Del towered over her and kicking her heels off a final time for comfort. "Do it. I _dare_ you."

It took everything in Purple's now nauseated resolve not to turn and flee when Del held his step-daughter's eye contact, reaching through her gooey abdomen as she gritted her teeth to feel for her spine, hooking his wiry fingers up into her ribcage and giving a final, brutal tug filled to the brim with pure, unabridged loathing for what she had become. He watched in shock when Sen's skin was stripped away in pools of glittering black, unnatural blood when her spinal cord was severed from within, reaching out when her father let go and allowed her to turn a final time before falling like a beautiful, trembling leaf to the ground. She took a final heave of a breath as a tiny smile crested and bloomed like a flower on her destroyed face, exposing her to the whole of the confused Empire over live broadcast as she finally passed on to whatever kindhearted deity was waiting for her in the misty clouds above.

Then…nothing.

Their plan had worked perfectly.

Sen was dead, a martyr for their cause that had Purple questioning his existence once more but flooding back into stoic resolve to live so her ruined reality wouldn't be in vain. He nodded his thanks to the limp hunk of flesh she had become at their feet, turning on his heel and racing back to where Red hung when he cried out in pain to the searing, white-hot flames singing his ankles through his boots as Del cleaned his hands in frantic disgust and confusion for what had just happened. Purple panted as he took the fleeting opportunity, rearing back and hoping Red was prepared for the fall when he snarled out a scream of a unconquerable growl before plunging his jagged, knifelike spear forward into the tangle of intrusive tentacles holding his frenzied love flush with his combustible stake, raking back and severing them as they fell away and writhed in the pit of hell blazing beneath Red's feet. He yelped and stumbled forward, Purple's nerves spiking and scrambling to grab him hard by the wrist before he lurched back into the all-consuming inferno as it finally caught and devoured the whole of the pole he'd just been tied to.

Red took a moment to catch his breath when his knees threatened to buckle beneath him in disbelief, meeting Purple's gaze with a nervous laugh of a smile. "W…w-wow." He managed to squeak out as he calmed, turning as Del finally collected himself and stomped out his exasperation before dashing back forward covered in sizzling, ashen blood. "S-Shit! What's the plan?!"

Purple grabbed him by the waist and tossed him out of the way when Del attempted to gut Red where he stood, stare snapping wildly to the pool of dissolving blood shrinking back around Sen's lifeless body. "There! We need her blood!" He thrust back with all his strength, forcing Del off and slicing his cheek through his mask with the tip of his spear, cursing hotly when his skin instantly mended upon contact. "We have to get it inside him somehow! Y-You can't let it dry up!"

Red nodded in bewildered confusion, slamming hard into Del's side and sweeping him off his feet as he scrambled to unlatch one of his gauntlet cannons from his wrist, crying out in agony when he received a hard, bone crushing punch to the eye and felt something crack under the sheer force of the blow. He reeled back, stripping free one of Del's gauntlets in the process and watching it skid back out of his good eye when his vision became blurry and darkened, thankful when Purple tossed his spear to the side and got the point before racing for the freed plasma technology and slipping his now bloodied fingers through the protective mesh. He felt it form to his wrist and vacuum seal to his bone structure as Red forced himself up in a mad break for Sen's drying body, warming the canon glowing in his wake and hearing his Academy instructor tell him to breathe and aim in the back of his mind.

Oh yeah…that was more like it!

His aim was perfect, landing a powerful hit to Del's thick shoulderpad and rocketing it off its opulent hinges to expose his dark undershirt, the recoil forcing him to skid a few inches before he fired again and clipped one of his Tallest's quivering antennae. He gave a cry of victory when Del yelped and felt his feeler dislocate, cascading to the battlefield as a distraction before growing back out of its empty socket to bring his already searing wrath to boil over in blind hatred.

"You think you can destroy me with my own technology you pathetic smeet?!" He barked, dancing out of the way as Red panicked and tried to figure out how to capture Sen's rapidly dissolving blood, resorting to bending against his better judgement and slurping it into his moist mouth in the distance. "You will never be anything more than an effeminate consort! You will never be a man! You will never be an _Irken_!"

"Shut up! You're not even living at this point so who are you talk you stupid bastard!" Purple countered, unsure if he should be proud or absolutely dismayed when Red turned and shot him a delighted look of puffy cheeked courage, a dribble of disgusting blood dripping down his chin. "You think you can take me after everything you and your cabinet has done to me?!"

He decided to distract his Tallest while Red crept along to somehow force Del to take Sen's blood, turning and throwing his arms wide when the crowd chattered in confusion, exchanging perplexed glances and whispers when they realized they had no idea what was actually happening before them.

"Yeah! You heard me! Your precious Tallest is a liar! He kept me prisoner on the Massive for two whole cycles and let his disgusting cabinet assault me over and over while I was waiting to be transported to Callnowia for an illegal marriage to an alien!" He jabbed a hot finger at where Sen lay, finally unravelling Del as he skidded out of the way when his swings became untamed and sloppy. "He murdered five thousand violet eyed Irkens in order to take their blood for illegal experimentation!"

"What?! What are you talking about?!"

"Experimentation?"

"We were told the Callnowian Conflict was over!"

Purple ducked once more, catching his racing breath as Red leapt forward and slammed back into Del's back, the counterweight of his form dragging him down as he struggled and landed hit after hit to Purple's side as he plunged his gauntlet into his Tallest's stomach and fired blow after sizzling blow to his spooch to no avail. His skin regenerated under his armor with every formidable thrust, fusturating him beyond belief as Red struggled with all his might to tug Del's protective visor free before throwing it over his shoulder. He grabbed him by the jaw, forcing his mouth open as Purple continued through his salty sweat.

"Yes, experimentation! Tallest Del has mixed Callnowian blood with pure Irken DNA to create a serum of life that made him immortal and is planning on using a low grade of that serum to force you all into a life of servitude as zombified monsters like her!" He jabbed back at Sen's lifeless corpse as gasps of tense disbelief and uneasy shifting lilted through the stadium. "Sen of Callnowia was a martyr for our cause to take down the most corrupt dictator in Irken history by sacrificing her blood to take down Del once and for all and save our people!"

Red finally pried Del's gnashing jaws open as Purple continued his rapid fire plasma fire to keep him immobilized long enough for his partner to sickeningly spit globs of thick, black clots and viscous cells into his mouth before forcing it closed and laughing with wild fanaticism as Del choked and sputtered on the nauseating taste.

"Tallest Del is a fraud! He's married to Ipi of Callnowia and fabricated the Callnowian Conflict in order to turn you all into his own personal slaves!" Red added, furious, fiery fanaticism for his cause blooming in his own bloodstream as Del suffocated and swallowed on impulse. "He-"

Purple froze and halted his offensive when Del reared back, blackened veins blooming over his mottling skin as bruises burst and flourished to the surface in a singular instance, turning his once diamond hard skin to mush as he rotted from the core and finally competed the noble sacrifice Sen had so graciously offered up on the transport pod. He yelped when his flailing fear collided with Red's chest, knocking him back and discharging a single, precise plasma shot to his shoulder to sever his arm cleanly from his socket. He stumbled back and hit the ground to go completely limp in a pool of his own gushing, impure blood as Purple gasped and let loose an agonizing screech of blind, red hot fury unlike any other as he kept up his assault, standing and going for his spear to enact the final blow he'd seen his enemy perform on Sen.

Del panicked, attempting to stand as his perfect form rapidly aged and withered, choking out a wheeze of a plead from below as he kicked and writhed like a feeble maggot plucked from the ground to finally receive the justice that had been coming. How dare he harm Red! How dare he take from him the one thing that made his life worth living!

"You stole everything from me you fucking monster!" Purple screamed, stomping down hard over Del's abdomen and listening to his spiked cleat tear open his protective corset to expose his soft belly. "I'll always be a consort, huh?! I'll always be some bride, _huh_?!"

"P-Please…Please, I'll step down!" Del pleaded in a cracked, gnarled tone as he clutched at his throat and tried desperately to reload his gauntlet for a final fire. "I-I promise…I-I'll leave! J-Just spare me!"

Purple shook his head when Red went completely limp to his side and turned cold, his ragged, pained breathing coming to a halt as the climax of the battle slowed and Purple finally took his vengeance for the two cycles of torment he was forced to face, relishing in the look of pure, untainted fear flashing in that stomach-turning gilt that tortured him for so long.

"Rot in hell! _I'm_ your Tallest now!" He cried, forcing his spear down and listening to the satisfying snap of Del's ruined spinal cord snapping under the weight of his blow and immediately taking the light from his eyes as he sputtered and flailed a moment longer, going completely still in his grasp as the same impure blood leaked from his stomach and dissolved to fluttering dust.

It was over.

It was finally over.

The Control Brains hummed out their compliance from above as the crowd erupted into a frenzied fit of cheers as Purple dropped his spear to the side and spat in the face of his tormenter, heaving as his rage left him shaky and worked up before throwing his arms out to the crowd and wiping the gooey smear of blood from his cheeks. They chanted his name on a repeated, chaotic loop packed to the brim with excited expectation as Del's guard panicked and bowed to Purple's formidable presence, snuffing the pyre behind them when their mechanical leaders demanded it.

He…he won?

He had actually won?!

"Callnowian consort Nemi of Veloria, we see your victory against former Almighty Tallest Del of Veloria and bestow upon you the title of acting Almighty Tallest of the Imperial Irken Empire. May your reign be benevolent and just." The head brain boomed out with a puff of steam before retreating back up into their hide etched into the ceiling to allow their trained team of advisors to deal with the transfer of information and recoding. "Congratulations. Defector Styx of Naphrus shall be pardoned of all crimes and reencoded to the collective as a function member of Irken society. Thank you and long live the Imperial Irken Empire!"

Purple was acting Tallest?!

He couldn't believe it, his adrenaline manifesting as nervous laughter as he threw his head back and basked in the victorious melody of his name finally being spoken with respect and admiration as he spun on his heel to fold Red into a tight, embrace of triumph to prepare to take him away and premote him to his personal general. They had won! They had done it together with the help of Sen and…

Red?

Wait…hey…wait…this wasn't right. This wasn't right…no. What? W-What? Red?

Purple froze, lingering over the quiet body of his cold partner lying face down in his own coagulating blood as it oozed lazily from the empty socket of his arm.

Red?

He stooped in urgent disbelief as a team of advisors came to take him for role reencoding, gingerly gripping him by the shivering shoulder before he smacked them away and rolled his lover over to stare blankly down at his catatonic, peaceful face.

R-Red?

No.

No!

Purple dropped to his knees when a flood of emotion overtook him, scrambling to draw Red up into a limp, perilously heartbroken embrace as he smoothed frantically over his unresponsive cheeks. "R-Red? This isn't funny!" He cried when petrified tears pricked in the corners of his scratchy eyes. "Red? Red?! _Styx_?! You're ok! Y-You're ok, I know you are! W-We've…we've been through too much for you to leave me now…p-please…please you asshole, I love you!"

Nothing.

Why?

Was there ever a reason to the cruel fate he was constantly spiraling down as he was tugged up to a stand and turned to the crowd as he wept for his lost partner, pushing the advisor to the ground and folding back over the only man that had shown him any true kindness. He couldn't be gone. He couldn't leave. He couldn't be dead.

Why?

Why was he gone?

Why did he have to leave?

Why was he dead?

Purple refused to budge, holding Red's lifeless body close as he let out a wrathful scream of heartbroken, hollow emotion that hushed the whole of the crowd and turned the air frigid and bloodcurdling in his wake. What use was being Tallest if he didn't have his general? What use was being Purple if he didn't have his Red? He should have been the one to go…not his snarky, beautiful partner.

Why?

W-Why?!

He shook his head, pulling back as Red stared, blank and freezing, up at the tangle of wires their cruel overlords had disappeared into. There was no glimmer of jaded animosity shining in his retinas, only the dull, chemically induced color he'd forced himself to endure cycles in the past and the pale, almost gaunt lifelessness of someone lost to the void forever. Purple stood, mustering up enough strength to shakily clutch his long lost partner to his chest as he trudged on past the stadiums, taking a shuddering breath and refusing to listen to the team desperately attempting to gain his attention.

"S-Sir! M-My Tallest!"

My Tallest? Pathetic. He was no Tallest. He hadn't won anything, had he?

"Sir, please!"

"Shut up!" He snapped violently, glaring down at the tiny service drone trailing at his heels. "Don't call me that!"

The drone wrung her hands when she noticed his grip tighten on the corpse in his hold, antennae twitching in nervous discomfort before defiantly peeping up once more. "Our biology team, my Tallest, can…c-can try to revive him!" She stated, holding her ground when Purple shot poisonous daggers through her skin. "T-there's no guarantee he'll survive, but we have the technology to try and-"

"Do it. My first order as acting Tallest is the revival of Styx." He demanded, picking up his pace to the transport pod waiting outside as he briskly shot off down the long corridor he'd walked nearly an hour before. He felt taller somehow, leaner and meaner as Red's remaining arm thumped against his side and urged him to move faster for fear he would be lost forever. "Now! Get me to the Massive and get him in the med bay before he loses what's left of his bodyheat!"

Purple may be a warrior, he may even be a Tallest now, but he was first a _biologist_.

"Hurry up! I'm not losing him now; we're going to play God."

* * *

Oh boy...this one was hard to write. Do you guys think Red will survive and come back or...will he stay dead? Possibilities, oh devious possibilities! Have a wonderful day and I'll see you guys next time!

Note on updates: Thank you for being patient if I have to push updates a few days from the time I set. I am a working adult with a job and a partner, and I try to balance time between everything equally. These chapters take me 8+ hours of editing and planning to create, so they are no easy feat but I love them so much. I am determined to see this through, but sometimes I have to delay or change times because I work at Hot Topic and the schedule is very shifty there. Thank you!

_**Next Update Planned: Wednesday, August 19, 2020 by 10:00 pm CDT (UTC -5)!**_


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